LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



Chap. l^j^Z-^X 

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 







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ARGUMENTS 



ON BEHAIiF OF THE 



Bunker Hill Monument Association 



BEFORE THE 



ituor uxiii %i'iitxmm ai Cljarkstjofoit, 



WILLIAM W. WHEILDON, ESQ., 

. .^ AND 

.A 

G/ WASHINGTON WARREN, 

PRESIDENT OF THE ASSOCIATION, 



IN FAVOR OF 



THE NEW AVENUE TO THE MONUMENT. 



WITH SUPPLEMENT, 

CONTAINING 

THE ARGUMENT OF SAMUEL S. WILLSON, ESQ., AND ABSTRACT OF 
EVIDENCE OFFERED BY CITIZEN PETITIONERS. 



CHARLESTOWN : 

ABRAM E. CUTTER. 

M DCCC LXIX. 




\w \w,\y^, 



>.■' 



^>^ 



4095 



Boston : 
Press of Rand, Avery, & Frye. 



To 



ALL THOSE ] 

GOOD 

CITIZENS 

OF 

Charlestown | 

AND 

Boston, 

WHO, TRULY I 
APPRECIAT- 
ING THE 

IBxttther iUl| 
Ponnmtnt 

AS THE FIT 
MEMORIAL OF | 
THE COUNTRY 1 
AND OF THE 
WORLD TO THE| 
GLORIOUS 
RESULTS OF 

THE 

AMERICAN 

REVOLUTION ;| 

AS AN 

ORNAMENT 

TO BOTH CITIES j 

AND AN 

INSTRUCTOR OF 

EACH SUCCEEDINGJ 

GENERATION, — 

HAVE ASKED 

THAT THIS 

^l^acioxtsgifacmuj 

TO IT MAY 
BE CONSTRUCTED, ' 

AND IN THE 

HOPE THAT THEY 

WILL PERSEVERE 

UNTIL IT BE 

ACCOMPLISHED, 

SO THAT 

THIS IMPERISHABLeI 

OBELISK MAY -MORE 

GENERALLY IMPRESS 

THE POPULAR MIND,j 

AND MORE FULLY 

MEET THE 

EXPECTATIONS OF 

ITS BUILDERS, 

THIS PUBLICATION, 

IN AID THEREOF, 

IS (;katefullv 
DEDICATED 

BY THE PRESIDENT, 
ON BEHALF OF 

The Bunker Hill 
Monument Association. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



The petitions of Samuel S. Willson and fifty others, of 
James F. Huknewell and others, of Isaac Sweetser and others, 
of Gideon IIatnes and others (besides other petitions), all in aid 
of the Bunker Hill Monument Association, for an avenue, sixty- 
feet wide, from the City Square direct to the monument, have for 
several months been before the Mayor and Aldermen of Charles- 
town. The petitioners asked for a public hearhig before the whole 
Board, which was readily granted. On the 12th of October, 
Samuel S. Willson, Esq., counsel for the petitioners, opened 
the case, and a portion of the testimony was introduced, and the 
plans and estimates presented. The meeting was then adjourned 
to the 19th of October, to be held in the chamber of the Common 
Council. At this hearing, other testimony was offered on behalf 
of the petitioners, and William W. Wheildok, Esq., made his 
Argument on behalf of the Association. 

At the conclusion of his able and exhaustive argument upon his 
branch of the subject, the Board were reminded that this was the 
anniversary of the surrender at Yoektown, which secured to 
Bunker Hill an undying fame ; and that it was a fit occasion for 
them to entertain the proposal to open this avenue, so as to make 
its matchless memorial more conspicuous %nd impressive. 

Some of the parties whose land will be taken by this avenue, 
and other citizens induced by them, having sent in their remon- 



6 INTRODUCTORY. 

strances, and asked for a hearing, public notice was given by the 
Board, by advertisement in the city newspapers, that all who 
wished to remonstrate against this measure would be heard on the 
26th of October. On that evening, and at the adjourned meeting 
on the 8th of November instant, the remonstrants appeared, and 
put in their evidence. The lawyers of Charlestown having gener- 
ally signed the petition, the remonstrants selected a non-resident 
for their counsel, who made the most out of the case, probably to 
the satisfaction of those who employed him. The tenor of his ar- 
gument can be judged by the allusions herein made to it, and only 
made as the supreme importance of the case required. 

The closing argument was made by the President of the Associa- 
tion on the 2'2d instant. The ground having been thoroughly 
gone over, it has been thought best to place in a permanent form 
the eiforts made in this behalf, that the Board and tlie committee 
may be assisted in their labors, and that the public may under- 
stand the progress which the measure has reached, and may pre- 
pare to urge on or approve the favorable decision. 

If by any mischance the avenue should not be authorized by the 
present Board, on account of the ajiproaching end of their official 
term, what is herein contained will be in readiness for the con- 
sideration of the next Board. It is generally admitted that the 
avenue must some time be made. Economy and public convenience 
demand it xow. Should this demand be acceded to, and the work 
be promptly and considerately done, the seventeenth of June, 

EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FIVE, will attest itS absolute 

necessity, and find the avenue to a great extent appropriately built 
upon. 

7 Monument Square, Nov. 30, 1869. 



ARGUMENT 



WILLIAM W. WHEILDON, ESQ. 



MR. WHEILDON'S ARGUMENT. 



Mr. Mayor, and Gentlemen of the Board of Aldermen: — 

It has been said by an English orator of great expe- 
rience in pubHc affairs, whose life has boen devoted to 
the announcement and agitation of questions of refortn 
and measures of public improvement, that there are 
three stages of progression in public matters of this 
kind, which may be defined, first, as the stage of doubt 
and indifference, sometimes descending to ridicule ; 
secondly, the stage of discussion, over which reason, 
judgment, and experience are supposed to preside ; 
and, finally, the act of adoption, the result of delibera- 
tion guided and approved by wisdom. It is fair to 
claim, considering the source of this theorem, and the 
large experience of its author, that it is an historical 
conclusion, which both observation and experience con- 
firm. It is very rarely that a new project of any kind 
meets with public favor on its first announcement. 
Ideas do not originate with communities, but with indi- 
viduals, and are to be considered according to their 
value, be that much or little. The first impulse with 
which novelties, of whatever kind or character, good and 



10 



MR. WHEILDON'S ARGUMENT. 



bad alike, are met, is that of doubt and incredulity ; 
and this, with weak and dishonest minds, degenerates 
into ridicule, and, so far as these are concerned, often 
ends there. But it is very clear, from the success which 
has finally crowned so many enterprises whose first 
suggestion was met with doubt and ridicule, that this 
circumstance, so far from being against the suggestion, 
is to be considered as simply the first stage of its 
progress. The thinking and reasoning minds in any 
intelligent community may doubt but do not ridicule. 

If we may be permitted to apply these remarks to 
the subject of opening a new avenue between the City 
Square and Monument Square, pending before this 
Board, we shall not hesitate to say, whatever may be 
the ultimate result of this hearing, that it has at least 
passed its first stage of progress. With your attention 
respectfully invited to the matter by the Bunker-Hill- 
Monument Association, and their memorial sustained by 
a large number of our most intelligent, influential, and 
respected citizens, representing, as they certainly do 
very largely, the character and solid interests of the 
city, the subject is entitled to the consideration which 
this honorable Board has accorded to it. Whatever 
may have been thought of it heretofore, — and it is just 
to say that the Board of last year gave it a respectful 
consideration, — the large body of intelligent and patri- 
otic citizens represented by the Monument Association, 
and the petitioners whose names are before you, have 
given it their approval, and it cannot now be treated 
with indifference. It is no longer questioned as a desir- 



MR. WHEILDON'S ARGUMENT. 11 

able public improvement; it is no longer doubted as 
one of great utility ; it is no longer denied that it is 
one of large iBsthetic excellence ; and, as has been 
shown, may in the end be one of great financial advan- 
tage to the city. On the contrary, it has been shown 
to be feasible, desirable, unexceptionable in point of 
taste, and calculated to increase the value of real prop- 
erty in the city, and to enhance the appreciation of the 
great patriotic structure which it proposes more conspic- 
uously to bring out to public view. As a public improve- 
ment, therefore, it has passed the first stage of progress, 
and is here before this Board to meet the tests of its 
further advancement. 

It is fitting and proper in this discussion to inquire 
somewhat and briefly into the nature and character of 
what are called public improvements. These are clearly 
of two distinct descriptions. One is designed for and 
looks towards pecuniary and financial benefits and advan- 
tages ; and the other is designed for public convenience 
and use, ornament, and other practical considerations: 
or the two may be combined ; and, when they are so 
combined, they make the strongest case of a legitimate 
public improvement which can be presented. It is very 
easy to determine which character — that for pecuni- 
ary profit or that for public benefit and convenience — 
is of the highest tone and import, and most calculated 
to elevate the public taste and touch the public feeling. 
In this respect, there can be no comparison between 
them : in fact, it is not quite certain how far a mere finan- 
cial speculation, public or private in its undertaking, is 



12 MR. WHEILDON'S ARGUMENT. 

to be regarded as a public improvement, having claims 
to consideration as such. A private enterprise, under- 
taken altogether from personal and pecuniary consider- 
ations, or any work of utility, however insignificant, 
may be to some extent, directly or indirectly, a public 
improvement ; but these are not precisely what the 
phrase contemplates. Strictly speaking, public improve- 
ments are those which are essentially of a public charac- 
ter, undertaken by the public, at the general expense and 
for the general good ; those undertakings which com- 
bine utility, accommodation, convenience, and ornament. 
They imite in themselves all the elements of public 
benefit; are not private, sectional, or partisan, but 
interest and profit, in some way of convenience or use, 
directly or indirectly, the whole community. They are 
intended to bear upon all alike ; to subserve the conve- 
nience of all alike ; and, as fiir as any thing can be so, are 
for the common good. They are, in fact, among the 
things we live for. Take, for example, the highways 
of a country, the streets of a city, the public bridges, 
the public squares, the public buildings ; or, to take a 
different class, the public schools, the fire-department, 
public institutions, or water-works ; — all these, and all 
extensions or enlaro;ements which mav bemo.de in them, 
are public improvements; and the public authorities are 
justified in all measures designed to make them more 
useful, and better calculated to meet the public wants or 
promote the public welfare. There is no limit to these 
improvements, excepting that of the judgment of the 
people, and consequently no limit to the power by 



MR. WHEILDON'S ARGUMENT. 13 

which they are made or authorized. They are to be 
undertaken whenever required, whenever the public 
convenience and accommodation demand them ; and the 
authority of the State is supreme. In a matter of pub- 
lic convenience and necessity, no private interest, how- 
ever large or peculiar, is allowed to stand in the way of 
its performance. Inconvenience is personal and local : 
the need is supreme, and cannot be controlled by sub- 
ordinate considerations. If in any case private interests 
conflict with a proposed improvement, and can be sup- 
posed to outweigh the public necessities, it fails to meet 
the demands of a true public improvement ; but disad- 
vantages which are personal, or necessarily temporary 
and locnl in their character, are to be carefully consid- 
ered before they are permitted to control a public 
convenience of more general and more permanent 
utility. It is fair and just that every proposed public 
improvement should be subjected to this test ; for cer- 
tainly neither the name, the character, nor the impor- 
tance of a public improvement is to be assumed. These 
must be shown, and shown to be real and substantial, 
as well as feasible and desirable. 

To apply these remarks to the subject-uiatter before 
this Board : The petition is for a new avenue between 
two well-known points in this city, — the City Square 
and Monument Square, a distance, in a straight Hue, of 
twelve hundred feet. There is, at present, no direct route 
between these two central points; and, of those now open, 
all are out of the way, inconvenient, and otherwise objec- 
tionable, so that, in these considerations alone, the pro- 



14 MR. wheildon's argument. 

posed avenue has irrefragable claims to the character of 
a public improvement. It is desirable and practicable, 
and will be convenient and commodious, and afford im- 
proved means of intercourse, not only between the two 
points named, but also between the City Square and the 
whole of that growing section of the city beyond the 
lines of High and Lexington Streets. It will not only 
be shorter than any existing route, but will be of easy 
grade, and little liable to accidents. It will, therefore, 
beyond all question, facilitate intercourse between the 
most distant and most central parts of the city ; and it 
needs no demonstration to show, in these times, that 
this alone will increase business, and promote the pros- 
perity of the city. 

These are some of the obvious results of the opening 
of the proposed avenue ; and, as I have said, sufficiently 
justify its claim to be considered a public improvement 
in the full and complete sense of the phrase. 

There are other considerations in relation to the 
pecuniary and financial results of this improvement 
which have already been suggested to the Board, and 
will, no doubt, receive its attention. Without making 
any new estimates of these, or other contingent results, 
it is sufficient to suggest, that it is not possible to make 
a real public improvement, like that proposed, without 
large" benefits to the city, both local and general. They 
are certain : and the candid judgment of this Board, in 
the present case, must determine their character and 
extent. It falls to them as an official duty. It was 
stated, the other niojht, that the removal of the build- 



MR. WHEILDON'S ARGUMENT. 



15 



ings on the site of the Waverley House, the erection 
of that splendid structure, and the improvements which 
followed it, — the enlargement of the City Square and 
the widening of one or two streets, to say nothing of 
the new city hall, — added a million of dollars to the 
valuation of the city : how much less than tliis will 
result from the opening of the proposed avenue, on the 
basis of Mr. Torrey's estimate,* is an important inquiry 
to be made. How much the Bunker Hill Monument 
adds to the valuation of the city cannot be estimated. 
And here I may say, Mr, Mayor and Gentlemen, that I 
was surprised when the enterprising projector and 
builder of the Waverley House — who testified before 
you that, in his judgment, the proposed avenue, if 
completed, would enhance the value of all the real es- 
tate in the city — was asked if he would be willing to 
pay a betterment on his property. I was surprised at 
that question, put to him, who it is admitted by an 
almost official statement, has, by his own great public 
improvement, added not less than a million of dollars 
to the real property of the city in his vicinity. The 
city cannot in courtesy ask the question, nor could it 
in honor accept the money. 

But it is said there are objections to the new avenue. 
Of course : there are always objections to every new 
improvement, of one kind or another. It is said that 
it is not required, and that the benefits from it will not 
justify the undertaking and expense. These are pretty 
strono; assertions. — nothing more, — and no effort has 

* See Appendix. 



16 MR. WHEILDON'S ARGUMENT. 

yet been made to support them. The same objections, 
and in almost the same words, were made to the build- 
ing of the Warren Bridge, forty years ago ; and they 
were as applicable and as sound in that case as in this : 
but they proved to be untenable. They may be said 
of any proposed improvement. They were used against 
the adoption of the present form of government in this 
city ; they were used against the establishment of the 
Charlestown Gas Company, and strenuously against 
the Mystic Water Works ; even against the Waverley 
House, which was wholly a private enterprise : and they 
seemed more plausible in some of these cases than they 
are in the present case. They are urged to-day in some 
quarters — not over here — against the proposed open- 
ing of Washington Street towards Charlestown, — an 
improvement in some respects parallel to that now 
under consideration ; and, in fact, very few enterprises 
or improvements are proposed that do not have to 
undergo, in their second stage of progress, the same 
ordeal. 

If these objections are to be allowed, and entitled to 
control public enterprise and improvement, there is an 
end to both ; and not only so in regard to all material 
enterprises, but it is hardly too much to say, to all 
means and measures of progress and improvement. 
Take, for example, the highest of the arts, or the high- 
est of the sciences, and what, of a profitable or specula- 
tive nature, is allowed to control progress and improve- 
ment in these ? The question is never whether they 
will pay. Mr. Gould, one of our most ardent and ear- 



MR. WHEILDON'S ARGUMENT. 17 

nest professors of science, has recently said, the man 
who pursues science from the servile interest that it 
must be made to pay, has the smallest possible claim to 
respect from scientific men. There are public improve- 
ments of great virtue and excellence, approximating to 
works of art and science, which are not expected to 
pay, or undertaken for pay. If the proposed avenue 
be not of these. Bunker Hill and its famous monument 
are pre-eminently so. 

If those objects only are pursued, and those enter- 
prises only undertaken, which are sure to pay, it need 
not be said how large a proportion of the public im- 
provements and the achievements of enterprise would 
never have been accomplished or undertaken. On this 
basis, would Devonshire Street have been opened ? 
Would Tremont Street have been widened, and that 
gigantic undertaking, the removal of Hotel Pelham, 
have been accomplished ? On this basis, would Hanover 
Street be widened, or will Washington Street be opened ? 
Every house-owner in the city will improve and beautify 
his own premises, at an absolute cost, and willingly pay 
thereafter, annually, an increased tax for the better- 
ment: shall the city, in its corporate capacity, do less 
than this? There are reasons enough — and sound 
enough — in favor of the proposed avenue, to justify 
the risk, — if there be any risk, — just as there were 
in numerous other enterprises which have proved suc- 
cessful. Its benefits are not to be estimated, even 
financially, with accuracy ; and in all considerable pub- 
lic improvements, whatever may be said of the cost, 



18 ME. WHEILDON'S ARGUMENT. 

these are invariably under-estimated. This was the 
case with the gas-works, when only a single business- 
man in the city, outside the corporators, was willing to 
risk a hundred dollars in the enterprise. It has since 
been seen in this case, as in the horse railroad and 
water works, that it was one of absolute necessity. 
It was impossible that this community could have 
maintained its character, position, and progress, without 
each of these public improvements ; yet they were not 
seen until after their completion. If this avenue should 
be opened now, the marvel will be that it was not 
done years ago. In fact, this is so to-day. Not a 
member of this Board, — I would almost say, not a 
citizen of Charlestown, or stranger from abroad, — who 
has ever been on Bunker Hill, that has not marvelled 
at the want of a direct avenue from some central point 
towards it ; and, conspicuous as it is in the distant 
view, I think we have all been puzzled in the attempt 
to direct a stranger to it from any of our streets. 

The expense of this improvement is made an ob- 
jection to it, and no doubt is a consideration of great 
weight with many persons ; but if the work is neces- 
sary, if desirable, if advantageous to the public, if cal- 
culated to increase the public interest iii the city, and 
especially if certain to add to the historic value of the 
great monument which exalts and ornaments it, the 
cost of the work becomes qualified. Cost is simply an 
element in the argument, but cannot be allowed to 
control an enterprise of so many higher considerations. 
Cost is a question for the moment • — an expense once 



MR. WHEILDON'S ARGUMENT. 19 

incurred — and may be transient, like that for what is 
called a "symposium," or permanent, like that for a 
public fountain, or for the enlargement of Sullivan 
Square. Permanent improvements are perpetual ben- 
efits ; promoting; the convenience, prosperity, and 
happiness of a people for all time, generation after 
generation, and age after age. How, then, shall present 
cost be compared with advantages that are lasting and 
growing ? Who can estimate, in dollars and cents, the 
vast benefits of any public improvement enjoyed by 
each member of the community ? The question is a 
conundrum : you are forever using it and enjoying it, 
and still have it, until it becomes, like air and water, so 
necessary that you scarcely appreciate it. Our City 
Square may have cost the early settlers here, two hun- 
dred years ago, ten shillings or ten pounds lawful 
currency, and that small sum was greater to them than 
the highest estimate for this avenue ; but who thinks 
the money was not well invested ? Like the money re- 
cently paid for Sullivan Square, and for that unnamed 
opening at the head of Warren and Austin Streets 
(Central Square or Union Square), it was for a public 
improvement, and these last will be appreciated hereafter 
even more than now. To try this question still more 
severely, what was the cost of the Charles River Bridges 
compared with their present value ? Or, to take a still 
more striking instance, what the cost of our railroad 
system as a whole, compared with its uses and benefits 
in facilitating trade and intercourse among the people ? 
The answer must be in Charles Dickens's two words, — 



20 MR. WHEILDON'S ARGUMENT. 

infinitesimal on one hand, and absolutely illimitable on 
the other. For all the purposes of commerce and 
intercourse, railroads reduce the size of the earth and 
the distance between its populations, and more than 
double, for these purposes, the length of the day. It is 
not possible, in dollars and cents, to place any estimate 
upon their present value to all of us, as communities 
and as individuals ; yet who would have approved of 
the enterprise, less than half a century ago, if told that 
it would cost the New-England States three hundred 
millions of dollars, or the United States more than three 
thousand millions of dollars ? This enormous cost has 
been returned to the people over and over again ; and 
we have the property to-day at a value much higher 
than its cost. Our railroad system is the breath of life 
of business ; and no one for a moment thinks of its 
cost as a reason why it should not have been adopted : 
and yet we allow ourselves to talk about the cost of a 
public improvement as if we were each of us qualified 
to decide that question. We may decide between the 
cost and value of a purchase to ourselves ; but how 
shall we decide the Value, compared with its cost, of 
any public improvement, not merely to us, or in our 
brief day, but for all time, and for the coming genera- 
tions ? 

Cost, then, is not to control a public improvement ; 
and, of course, it follows, as the night the day, that a 
public improvement must control its cost ; and this is 
the test of its character. If it is of such a character, 
such interest and value to the public in the way of 



MR. WHEILDON'S ARGUMENT. 21 

business, convenience, or in any other way, as to be con- 
sidered a public improvement, there ends the argument 
so far as cost is concerned. So that, if the cost of the 
proposed improvement should appear to be large, as 
has been reported by those who have not investigated 
the subject, or even in fact, that would not be a bar to 
an enterprise of such utility and benefit, to continue 
for all time, and daily to promote the comfort and 
convenience of the community. 

The present is an age of progress and iuiprovement, 
everywhere and in everything, public and private, for 
use, accommodation and ornament : and these must go 
on ; they cannot brook delay ; the world that we occu- 
py cannot be neglected ; it must be kept up to the 
standard of progress. Let the public care of things 
cease, and they will go to decay and ruin. It has been 
said, that, if the city of London were to be neglected for 
a hundred years, at the end of that time it would be 
simply a heap of dust. The popular saying, " Let well 
enough alone," is ignored. There is no such thing now- 
a-days as " well enough." Well enough for what ? The 
old ferry was not well enough ; the old town-pumps 
were not well enough ; the city hall was not well 
enough ; the bridges, to-day, the school-houses, and the 
streets, are not well enough : and yet these were and 
are much nearer good enough than the way to Bunker 
Hill is at present. Public improvements are necessary 
to progress ; even more, they are necessary to keep 
things as well as they are. The world moves, and we 
have no time to waste on circuitous and indirect ave- 



22 MR. "WHEILDON'S ARGUMENT. 

nues : it is cheaper to make new ones. No man can 
afford to work with the tools of a past age, travel by its 
methods, or pursue its devious ways. 

It is well known, that, in the earliest writings re- 
specting New England, the location of the settlers on this 
spot was spoken of as one of the most favorable, beau- 
tiful, and healthful of any on the coast ; and it was 
also said that its beauties had been marred and mainly 
destroyed by the laying-out of the town, and disposing 
of lots, without regard" to any system, to the colonists 
who first came here. The same remark of the want of 
system is true of all the early settlements ; and years 
of time, and large sums of money, have been employed 
in correcting the evil which later generations inherited. 
Not only were the streets laid out without regard to 
regularity and extension, but were both crooked and 
narrow, involving inconveniences interminable and ex- 
penses unlimited. Many of these faults have been rem- 
edied, as far as possible, in the metropolitan city and in 
this city ; and one of the most important of these in 
Boston has lately occupied the attention of the author- 
ities, and it has been determined to extend Washington 
Street — the principal street through the centre of the 
city in its longest direction — in a direct line towards 
Charlestown ; so that, passing across Charles River-, 
and striking the proposed street in a straight 
line from the bridge, a single avenue will be opened 
from Roxbury to Bunker Hill, nearly four miles in 
length: an achievement of great utility and excellence, 
and wholly unparalleled*, it is believed, in any New- 
England city. 



MR. WHEILDON'S ARGUMENT. 23 

But there is still another and higher view of this 
subject, which I desire to present to this Board, and that 
relates to the assthetic results of the proposed avenue. 

The Bunker Hill Monument is a great work of art, 
as well as a memorial of patriotic and national interest. 
It is hardly too much to say that it has never been fully 
appreciated by those who have seen it. It is not taw- 
dry, glittering, and attractive ; but is a solid, scientific 
structure, involving mathematical principles and calcu- 
lations in every course of its stone-work, presenting as 
a whole a bold, grand, and majestic appearance, of pro- 
portions and height unequalled by any similar structure 
in the world ; so that to-day, amidst the catalogue of 
towering obelisks of the ancient world, and all the crea- 
tions of modern times, which characterize and adorn the 
finest cities of Europe, this little city of Charlestown, the 
birthplace of the American Revolution, has a grander 
monument than any of them, whether of ancient or 
modern erection.* The determination of the directors, 
of the Monument Association, in reference to their work, 
before it was commenced, was expressed in the follow- 
ing words: " JLs it will commemorate the greatest event 
in the history of civil liberty, it should be, and shall be, 
the grandest monument in the world." Our most emi- 
nent citizens, whose distinguished lives and services are 
the property of the nation and the State, have spoken 
of this monument in the most glowing terms of patriot- 

* Height of tho Column of Alexander at St. Petersburg (including pedestal, capital, 
bronze d"nie, angel and cross), 150 feet; of the Monument of London, stated "to be the 
loftiest column in the world," 20^ feet; of the Arch of Triumph at I'aris, 152 feet ; of the 
Column of Napoleon, Place Vendome, 135 feet, and the etatue 11 feet; Colonne de Juillet, 
154 feet ; of the Trajan Column at Rome, 125 feet; of Antoninus, 12:! feet; of Pompey's 
Pillar at Alexandria, 100 feet ; of Cleopatra's Needle, about 70 feet. 



24 MR. WHEILDON'S ARGUMENT. 

ism and eloquence ; and they were, in fact, its projectors 
and builders. The late Gov. Everett, — a name ever to 
be respected here, — speaking of this monument, said, 
"The Pyramids and obelisks of Egypt ; the monument- 
al columns of Trajan and Aurelius, have paid no tribute 
to the rights and feelings of men. Majestic and grace- 
ful as they are, they have no record but that of sover- 
eignty, sometimes cruel and tyrannical, and sometimes 
mild ; but never that of a great, enlightened and gen- 
erous people." Mr. Webster said of it, — and the words 
are still sounding in our ears, — " Here it stands ! " " It 
has a purpose : and that purpose gives it character ; 
that purpose enriches it with dignity and moral gran- 
deur." " It is a plain shaft. It bears no inscriptions 
fronting to the rising sun, from which the future anti- 
quarian shall wipe the dust." "To-day it speaks to 
us." " Its silent but awful utterance ; its deep pathos, 
as it brings to our contemplation the seventeenth of 
June, 1775, and the consequences which have resulted 
to us, to our country, and to the world, .... the ele- 
vation with which it raises us above the ordinary feel- 
ings of life, surpasses all the study of the closet, or even 
the inspiration of genius, can produce." But more than 
all these eloquent words, we dwell on that voluminous 
sentence, which we have placed in letters of gold, that 
they may be alwa3^s before us, " This Column stands 
on Union." * 

* These famous words, " This column stands on Union," were placed in 
golden letters on the massive frame of the full-length portrait of Daniel 
Webster, now in the Council Chamber ; but recently, under some mistaken 



MR. WHEILDON'S ARGUMENT. 25 

And this great work of art, of patriotism and grati- 
tude, of liberty and union, — emphatically the monu- 
ment of the whole country, — belongs to us, adorns and 
dignifies our city. It gives to us character, position, 
distinction ; and is so identified with the history and life 
of the city, that the two are inseparable. I might al- 
most venture the question, even now, Do we appreci- 
ate it ? Do we respect it ? Do we glory in it as we 
ought ? 

The ground on which the Bunker Hill Monument 
stands — omitting on this occasion all mere figures of 
rhetoric and set phrases of oratory — is memorable in 
the history of the country. Bunker Hill and its proud 
monument are classical, and they stand combined to- 
day as a national altar of patriotic sentiment. " We 
wish," said its profound builders, " that in those days of 
disaster, which, as they come upon all nations, must be 
expected to come upon us also, desponding patriotism 
may turn its eyes hitherward, and be assured that the 
foundations of our national power are still strong." And 
again, in the impressive language of the certificate of 
1833, " If in the delusions of prosperity, or the gloom 
of adversity, or in the tendency to change which is 
stamped on all human purpose, the spirit of that day 
should be perishing, let this monument renew it with 
all its glorious and dutiful associations." Again : " It may 
hereafter be said of this monument, with more proprietj^ 
and more feeling than the Greeks were accustomed to 

views of unit'ormity, they have been removed. This is much to be regretted, 
as they imlicate the living aet of tlie speaker whom the portrait is intended 
to represent. 



26 MR. WHEILDON'S ARGUMENT. 

speak of the statue of Olympian Jupiter, that ' to have 
lived and to have died without having seen it, was to 
have lived in vain. ' " 

I might enlarge, were it necessary to do so, upon the 
merits of this monument as a work of art; upon its 
value as a result of labor; upon its historic interest as 
marking the first battle-ground of freedom ; upon its 
patriotic influence as an altar of liberty. " Fortunate," 
said Mr. Webster, " in the natural eminence on which it 
is placed, higher, infinitely higher, in its objects and 
purposes, it rises over the land and over the sea, and, 
visible at their homes to three hundred thousand citi- 
zens of Massachusetts, it stands a memorial of the 
last, and a monitor to the present and all succeeding 
generations." 

Now, Mr. Mayor and Gentlemen of the Board of 
Aldermen, let me ask, what do we, as a city, do towards 
this monument ? It has been placed here in our midst 
by other hands than our own ; thousands and thousands 
of our countrymen are interested in it, and not less than 
a hundred thousand of them (mostly for the first and 
only time) visit it every year, and contribute towards 
its support, the further ornament of the grounds, and 
still contemplated improvements, for our local benefit. 
A structure of unsurpassed public interest, valued in 
njone}^ at half a million of dollars; a public square, 
both ornamental and healthful, maintained wholly at 
private expense, yet at all times open to the unre- 
stricted use of our citizens, — a pleasant spot of com- 



MR. WHEILDON'S ARGUMENT. 



27 



inon rosurt to all the people, — it would seem that any 
aid ill making it more accessible and more appreciable, 
might be reasonably expected from the city. The 
improvement now prayed for is not asked as a right ; 
it is not asked for the benefit of the Monument Asso- 
ciation, nor yet in the interest of the thousands of 
annual visitors; but as an advantageous and beneficial 
improvement for the city, creditable to its character, 
and complimentary to its taste. . 

Regarding this structure as a work of art, — as a 
monument or a public edifice, — it is unfortunately 
located for the full appreciation of its character and 
merits, or for the proper exhibition of its majesty and 
grandeur. Its massive proportions and great height 
are absolutely degraded in the narrow space in which 
it is to be viewed. The efforts of the association 
through a series of years, to retain in their possession, 
for public use, the whole of the original purchase, are 
well known ; and the reluctance with which the land 
was parted with is made manifest on every page of 
their records where the subject is mentioned. If we 
have to-day to regret this circumstance on account of 
the monument, we find remuneration, so far as the city 
is concerned, in the creation of a large amount of tax- 
able property placed upon the land owned and sold by 
the corporation. When it seemed probable that this 
land would have to be sold, Mr. Amos Lawrence said, 
"The whole Bunker Hill field is, perhaps, the most 
beautiful open space in Charlestown ; and, besides the 
interest in it, growing out of its connection with a new 



28 ME. WHEILDON'S ARGUMENT. 

era in the history of man, it will have the charm of 
adding directly to the comfort of the people who 
reside in its neighborhood, or who use it for a prome- 
nade." These considerations, and the efforts of Mr. 
Lawrence, were of no avail. Unable to retain their 
land, the association thereafter turned their attention 
to the completion of the monument upon a square of 
four hundred feet by six hundred feet, with not a single 
avenue of any length, or from any point, from that 
time to this (excepting Monument Avenue, which has 
been opened at the cost of the association), leading 
directly towards the structure. The opening of Monu- 
ment Avenue, several years ago, and its more recent 
extension into Main Street, was a right step in that 
direction, but, it is evident, does not accommodate the 
public, nor meet the necessities of the case, nor the 
requirements of distance, open space, and direct obser- 
vation, necessary to a full and artistic display of the 
entire monument. It is a noticeable fact, — a result 
probabl} due to our utilitarian ideas in public matters, 
— that hardly a single public edifice of any pretensions 
to art or architecture, in our large cities, is to be found 
eligibly and favorably located. In the city of Boston, 
where there are a multitude of violations of proper 
taste, it is a little singular that the first and the last 
public edifices now belonging to the city, aie the only 
exceptions to the fault, namely, the old State House 
and the new City Hospital. The latter, so eminently 
worthy the Christian philanthropy of the city, is most 
admirably located, and needs only to be seen, to have 



MR. WHEILDON'S AKGUMENT. 29 

its excellence in this respect fully understood and 
appreciated. As an object of public interest, its value 
is increased four fold ; and so would it be, in view of 
the proposed improvement, with the Bunker Hill Mon- 
ument. As a general rule, it would seem, public build- 
ings, like grocery-stores, are placed on the corners of 
streets, without any regard to what sort of a structure, 
or for what sort of purpose, the opposite corner may be 
occupied ; or they are crowded in between buildings 
of the most ordinary character, and commonly for the 
most ordinary uses, wholly regardless of taste, propri- 
ety, or architectural relations. There are four monu- 
ments in this Commonwealth to commemorate the 
events of the nineteenth of April, but only one to 
commemorate the far greater events of the seventeenth 
of June, 1775 ; and that one the most elevated monu- 
ment in the world, waiting now, it may almost be said, 
to be uncovered to public view, and made commodiously 
and conveniently accessible to its many thousands of 
aiuiual visitors. 

To return again to our theorem of progression iti 
matters of public interest. We are approaching, it is to 
be hoped, the period of adoption, trusting that we have 
proved the sincerity of our purpose, the feasibility and 
desirableness of our plan. It has been very profoundly 
said, that, with a master-spirit, it takes some time to 
receive the truth ; with a slower or heavier intellect a 
longer period is required ; and to bring it to the knowl- 
edge and appreciation of a whole community is a w^ork 
of time and labor. In this work, let me add, if our 



30 MR. WHEILDON'S ABGUMENT. 

efforts prove successful here, we hope to have the 
co-operation of the board. 

And now, Mr. Mayor and Gentlemen, it remains for 
you to make up a judgment on this matter. After what 
has been said of the convenience, directness, and neces- 
sity for the proposed avenue ; the large section of the 
city sure to be accommodated by it ; the great improve- 
ment it will be to the immediate neighborhood, and to 
the city at large ; its great importance in developing 
the massive character and majestic proportions of the 
monument, — I do say, that these afford reasonable and 
sufficient grounds for laying out the avenue as prayed 
for by the association here represented, and the people 
of this city interested in its improvement and progress. 
Although we do not ask it on that ground, it seems to 
me that the great desirableness of the avenue in re- 
spect to the Bunker Hill Monument alone, would of 
itself justify the measure which it so largely com- 
mends. There is no estimating its importance in this 
respect ; there is no fixing the value of it ; there is no 
such thing, I am almost sorry to say, as applying a 
material standard to acknowledged aesthetic values. 
And, gentlemen, let me say, so clearly and so closely 
identified with this city, in history, position, and char- 
acter, is that magnificent monument, that every thing 
done to enhance its value or interest to the country at 
large, is done for the city. There is no separating 
them: you could not do it if you would; you would 
not do it if you had the power. I do not think I am 



MR. WHEILDON'S ARGUMENT. ■ 31 

overstating this matter in the least. With the State 
and national establishments located within the limits 
of .this small city, we cannot overlook the importance 
to it of, the renowned position which it holds, and that 
these highlands, so beautiful in themselves in early 
times, are both historical and classical. • If we have 
robbed them of their natural beauty, there is the more 
reason why we should afford the fullest development 
to their historic and artistic glories. 

The past is all secure tons: the present only is in 
our hands. With all the wisdoui we can command, we 
are to provide for the future ; and we are especially to 
remember, that what we do now for ourselves is done 
for the future, and for the generations who are to occupy 
your seats, and maintain the patriotic honors and classic 
fame of this city. The improvement we ask for, beyond 
all question, will return its cost in money and use ; and 
it will go down to posterity as this noble City Square 
came down to us, conunended to their care, as this to 
ours, by its inherent value of usefulness and beauty. 
This new avenue, as the Square does to-day, will attest 
the wisdom, taste, foresight, and public spirit of those 
who conceived and completed it. 

It has been thought, Mr. Mayor, that, in view of the 
wonderful events, the fearful and bloody conflicts, and 
the crowning victories which mark the history of the 
late civil war, the deeds of the early fathers of the 
country would be thrown into the shade, and their 
patriotic services forgotten ; but, sir, there is to-day no 
evidence of this, and I think we may say, no danger 



32 MR. \VHEILDON*S ARGUMENT. 

of this. The two great periods in the history of our 
country — the revolutionary period, which began here, 
and the period of civil strife, which, thank God, did not 
begin here — are different in character and degree ; and 
neither can be obliterated from history, or depreciated 
in the hearts of the American people. The words of 
Sam Adams, the fall and death of Joseph Warren, the 
acts of John Adams, "the giant of the Revolution," the 
patriotic services of Prescott and Putnam, and the 
crowninu; glories of Georare Washintrton, never will be 
forgotten; still less possible is it that Bimker Hill and 
its martyrs, Warren and his associates in arms, shall 
ever be neglected. And, Mr. Mayor, whoever of us 
lives to see the morning of the seventeenth of June, 
eighteen hundred and seventy-five, will behold, on that 
first centennial anniversary of the battle of Bunker 
Hill, such an outpouring of the people of New Eng- 
land and of the whole country, as has never yet been 
seen on the same anniversary, or on any other memor- 
able day in this country. Then, sir, if not now, the 
avenue we propose to open to this multitude of 
American freemen, as they come up to the altar of 
American Independence, — the independence of this 
great continent and this mighty nation, — will be ap- 
preciated ; and it is not merely for ourselves, but foi- 
all people in coming time, for the second and third, and 
many succeeding centennial celebrations, that we urge 
now, as a measure of necessity and foresight, the open- 
ing of this new and spacious avenue. 



ARGUMENT 



G. AVASHINGTON WARREN, 



PRESIDENT OF THE ASSOCIATION. 



MR. WAEREN'S ARGUMENT. 



May it please your Honor, and the Board of Aldermen : — 

The evenings you have devoted to the hearing on 
this petition, and the close attention you have paid to 
parties and witnesses, evince your appreciation of the 
supreme importance of the case. The city of Charles- 
town has adopted for its city-seal a view of the Bunker 
Hill Monument, with the motto, " Liberty, — a trust to 
be transmitted to posterity." Every official document 
bearing that superb impress is an admission that this 
monument is your- chief boast and glory ; and, there- 
fore, that the special trust is imposed on you to clierish 
and inculcate those principles which it was erected to 
perpetuate. If the songs of a people have, as it has 
been suggested, more influence upon them than their 
laws, how much more will this majestic national monu- 
ment serve to elevate the tone of sentiment, and raise 
the standard of the mark of high calling of American 
citizens, when it shall be brought out into daily view. 

Monuments and memorials are erected to be seen, 
and should always be so placed as to catch the eye 

35 



36 MR. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 

from every possible point, so as to vividly impress the 
largest number. So it is in Baltimore, where the Bat- 
tle Monument and the Washington are so conspicu- 
OLisly placed, at the head centres of long avenues, that 
both, and more especially the Washington, is seen in 
full length from so many opposite and distant points 
that its image is multiplied. Hence Baltimore is, by 
general consent, called the " Monumental City." 

The Bonaparte Monument, in Place Vendome, at the 
head of Rue de la Paix (Street of Peace, — ''The Empire 
is Peace "), is the distinguishing feature of Paris. Made 
of bronze cast from the cannon captured by Napoleon 
in his celebrated battles, in imitation of the Trajan Col- 
umn at Rome, it has had a wonderful influence upon 
the people of Paris ; and Paris is France. When Louis 
Napoleon was inaugurated as President of the French 
Republic, as, at the head of the army, he rode, in the 
grand procession, by that idolized trophy, he gracefully 
uncovered, and made his obeisance, in presence of the 
army and the populace, before the statue of Bonaparte 
which surmounted the column. If the effect of that 
imperial monument, and the popular associations con- 
nected with it, has been to aid in bringing back the 
empire and the Bonaparte dynasty, how much, think 
you, will the Bunker Hill Monument, when more favor- 
ably placed, have upon this community in all coming 
time ? 

All the monuments in European cities have spacious 
avenues leading to them ; and it is to the discredit and 
great loss of this municipality, that this, the grandest 



MR. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 37 

monument in the world, and erected to the noblest 
cause, has been suffered hitherto to be in the poorest 
position in reference to the public streets and ways. 

The Bunker Hill Monument Association erected the 
monument on its appropriate site. It remains for you 
to open to it a wide and suitable avenue. You alone 
can do it. Now is the golden opportunity. The duty 
and the interest of the city alike enjoin it upon you. 

By the city charter, all the power which formerly 
belonged to the people of Charlestown and their offi- 
cers is now devolved upon the two branches of the 
City Council. The charter superadds greater author- 
ity. The official oath which the members are required 
to take does not merely exact of them that they shall 
be honest and diligent. It is supposed, as a matter of 
course, in deference to the judgment of the people, that 
none but such men will be elected. It means, more- 
over, that the members shall provide for the public wel- 
fare, looking forward to future exigencies and needs; 
and that, in considering the plans proposed, they will 
decide without fear or favor, always preferring the great 
public benefit to the temporary inconvenience of the 
citizen. The city is eternal : the family estate is as 
transient as a human life. 

Full and summary authority is given to this Board, 
subject to the concurrence of the Common Council, to lay 
out streets aud ways. The right of eminent domain is 
vested in you for this purpose ; and the land-owner is 
limited to one year, within which he may appeal from 
your award of damages. 



38 MR. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 

By the eighth section of the city charter, the City 
Council has " the care and superintendence of the city 
buildings, with the power to let, or to sell what may be 
legally sold, and to purchase property, real or personal, 
in the name and for the use of the city, whenever its 
interest or convenience may in their judgment re- 
quire it." 

This is authority not given to towns. By it, when 
you have laid out a street where it ought to be, you 
can negotiate ; you can buy on the line of the street 
and in the rear ; you can re-lot and sell, with such con- 
ditions as to building and use as the public interests 
may require. You can make terms before and after you 
award damages. You can make the mayor a street- 
commissioner, and clothe him with full authority. This 
last provision, peculiar to our city charter, must have 
been inserted because Charlestown, more than other 
places, needed to be laid out anew. 

In addition came, at last, the betterment law. 
Under the operation of such a law. New York laid the 
foundations of her prosperity. Boston struggled in the 
Legislature for it many years, and did not succeed in 
obtaining it until 1861. Charlestown secured the ben- 
efit of it in 1867 ; and now, by general law, any town 
or city in the State may have it. Though tardy in its 
enactment, the law has come opportunely for the press- 
ing necessities of Boston. By a liberal and yet neces- 
sary use of its provisions, Boston has made vast 
improvements in her streets, which have resulted in 
great public convenience, and in a wonderful enhance- 



MR. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 39 

ment of values. Within the last year, there has been 
an appreciation of real estate to the amount of $40,- 
000,000, or nearly twice the whole real valuation of 
Charlestown. 

Under these three methods combined, — the right to 
lay out streets under the charter, the right to buy and 
sell real estate as the- public interest and convenience 
may require, and under the betterment law, your 
power is absolute. 

Commensurate with your power, so greatly enlarged, 
is your duty. A glance at your situation shows the 

Magnitude of this trust resting upon you. Let us now 
e where we are, and the conditions of our growth. 
Twenty-five years ago, the population of the town 
of Charlestown was scarcely 12,000. It is now 30,000, 
— an increase of a hundred and fifty per cent. By 
the same ratio, in twenty-five years from now the 
population will be 75,000; in fifty years, 187,500, — 
perhaps the ultimate limit of the capacity of our terri- 
tory, as far as we can now understand the possible 
means of aggregation ; but we do not know. Boston 
has within its increased limits about five times the 
inhabitants who occupied the same territory half a 
century ago ; and in another half-century there will be 
a million of people living within her present limits. 
The same ratio of increase has obtained in the places 
on the other side of us, — in Somerville, in Maiden, in 
Chelsea, and in the towns beyond those. There is no 
ground to prognosticate a diminution in the immediate 



40 MR. warren's argument. 

future. A four-years' war has not caused any. There 
is no probabiUty of another war of that magnitude 
for the next fifty years. The teeming soil of our wide- 
extended land, the constantly improving arts of 
husbandry, and rapid and cheap transportation, assure 
us there will be no famine; and if our municipal 
authorities will exercise a wise forecast in the laying-out 
of streets, there will be no pestilence. Consider that, 
up to within a few years, Charlestown was fettered by 
tolls on the bridges to Boston, to Maiden, and till now to 
Chelsea, and henceforth the avenues connecting all 
these places are to be free, and you may judge 
whether there will be any falling-off in this progressive 
increase. The problem for you is to make preparation 
for it. 

Monument Square occupies a central position in our 
territory. It commanded till recently a fine view of 
city, water, and country. But buildings, three and four 
stories high, are shutting out the beautiful panorama. 
Owing to the forecast of the last Board, Monument Street 
is extended to Medford Street; and, through that precious 
vista of fifty feet, a glimpse of the Mystic River, with a 
passage for the northern breeze, is secured for all 
time. On the south side, all the streets leading up the 
hill are narrow, steep, and winding, and obstructed by 
buildings on other streets at their lower termini. If 
you consider Monument Avenue an exception to any 
part of this description, although straight, it is of 
insufficient width ; and it is blocked up at the opposite 



MR. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 41 

side of Main Street. In view of the immediate future, 
this sixty-feet avenue direct to City Square, and across 
the Bridge Avenue to Charles River, is a necessity for 
the kings of the city. This opening, 1,200 feet long, is 
all that is required to bisect our territory, and leave a 
free space from river to river. 

But witnesses have been brought before you who 
say they do not see the need of this avenue ; though, 
for the most part, they have the good taste to admit 
that it would be a fine thing in an artistic point of 
view. Mr. Mayor, a quarter of a century ago, a large 
and respectable part of Boston were ready to give in 
their affidavits that the wells and springs of their city 
contained good water, and a sufficient supply. The 
Jamaica Pond Corporation would have contracted to 
supply for an indefinite period all the inhabitants who 
might be short of water. The Cochituate Water- Works 
have been completed and put in use exactly twenty- 
one years ; and now that beautiful lake, with all its 
tributary sources, is not sufficient for Boston. 

I doubt, if, at the time, the City Council of 
Charlestown would have passed an order in advance, 
appropriating the sum of three thousand dollars for a 
scientific survey and report upon supplying this city 
with pure water. They would have said, they could 
not see the necessity of appropriating so much money 
at the present time, when other things were wanted, — 
a stereotyped remark. But Mayor Dana, on his own 
responsibiHty, and by his official authority, solely unre- 
stricted by the charter and amendments, ordered it to 



42 



MR. "WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 



be done ; and to that able and comprehensive report 
of Messrs. Baldwin and Stevenson, and the consequent 
efforts of the City Council inspired by it, are we 
indebted for that inestimable boon and unappreciable 
property, — the Mystic Water-Works, 

So much for the short-sighted, and those well- 
meaning citizens, who, looking after their own private 
affairs well enough, do not closely study into the public 
interests, nor the mode of providing for them. That 
they leave to the City Government, with whom is the 
responsibility of delegated power. In fact, several of 
the witnesses called by the remonstrants prefaced 
their remarks by saying that they did not expect to 
be called, and obviously gave only first impressions. 
They will appreciate the street when constructed, and 
will be glad to participate in its benefits. 

Dr. Dwight, President of Yale College, in his " Travels 
in New England " published in London in 1823, speaks 
thus of Charlestown : — 

" The streets are formed without the least regard to 
regularity." " After it was burnt, the proprietors had a 
fair opportunity of making it one of the most beautiful 
towns in the world. Had they thrown their property 
into a common stock ; had the whole been surveyed ; 
had they laid out the streets with the full advantage 
furnished by the ground, which might have been done 
without lessening the quantity of enclosed ground ; had 
they then taken their house-lots, whenever they chose 



MR. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 43 

to do SO, as near their former positions as the new loca- 
tion of the streets would have permitted, — Charlestown 
would have been only beautiful. Its present location 
is almost only preposterous. Such a plan was, indeed, 
sufficiently a subject of conversation ; but a miserable 
mass of prejudices prevented it from being executed." 

This is an historic judgment against our ancestors. 
But it may be said in their favor, that, while scarcely 
recovering from the shock of the Revolution, and from 
the waste of the great conflagration, they had no 
idea nor conception of the rapid progress of this 
country, in numbers and in wealth, which awaited the 
adoption of the national constitution. But we who 
are on the swelling tide, and know the rate of pro- 
gression, are wholly without excuse if we neglect to 
use ordinary forecast. 

Our streets, in general, are like the out-stretched 
fingers of the two hands interlaced within each other 
— short and -butting against a barrier. Heretofore we 
have not suffered, on account of the open space of 
unoccupied lands. But cover all the private lands 
with buildings, and, unless your Board interpose in 
time, Charlestown will be a stifled place. 

It is a mischievous error to suppose that the taking 
of land to make a new street, or to widen a narrow 
one, is diminishing the taxable property of the city. 
The quantity of land may be lessened, but the value of 



44 MR. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 

what is left on wide streets is increased. Take two 
lots on opposite sides of a thirty-feet street, each only 
seventy feet wide. They would be greatly enhanced 
by taking ten feet from the front of each, making the 
street fifty feet wide. The proprietors not only get 
the benefit of twice the land they each contribute in 
front, but the same benefit the whole length of the 
street. But as the land desired cannot be equally con- 
tributed, the betterment law comes in to equalize the 
burden. 

So, in laying out a new street between prominent 
points, where everybody would wish a street if the 
land were wholly clear, no matter where such a 
street may come, — in front of some estates, or in the 
rear of others, or right through an estate, — the land on 
such a desired street is doubled, trebled, and sometimes 
quadrupled, in value. 

Thirty years ago, four tiers of house-lots were laid out 
on Lexington, Monument, and Concord Streets, 
between Bunker Hill Street and the rear of the lots 
fronting Monument Square. They were all of an 
average depth of seventy feet, bounded on the rear by 
ten-feet passage-ways. On some of these passage-ways 
tenements are erected, making on such lots an average 
depth of thirty-five feet for each house. Said an 
experienced surveyor, " In laying out city lots, have no 
ten-feet passage-ways ; for such passage-ways will, in 
time, be built upon with a very inferior class of buildings, 
and will be a nuisance." Much greater is the nuisance. 



MR. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 



45 



and hazard of fire and sickness, where tenements are 
iiuddled in the rear of other houses, without a continu- 
ous passage-way, as is the case witli some part of tlie 
land tlirough which this proposed street will fortu. 
nately pass. Mr. Dow testified, that, if this street is 
not to be laid out, a conflagration would be, in the 
end, a permanent blessing. Mr. Adams says " that 
the great fire of 1835 gave us Chelsea Street, from 
City Square to its junction with Henley Street." What 
a pity the town did not have the foresight to make 
that great improvement in Chelsea Street before, and 
so stopped the fire ! Is it not your duty to take warn- 
ing from that example ? 

Let us now look at Main Street, filled with stores on 
each side, from this spot to far beyond Harvard Church, 
and consider how many of these stores have been 
altered from dwelling-houses, and how very few of 
them were originally built for stores. What a change 
within our own remembrance ! 

Now, who, in view of this, is to tell you how the land 
on this proposed avenue is to be improved ? with what 
buildings, and to what uses ? Go a mile from here to 
Pemberton Square, all built upon within thirty years 
with elegant, first-class dwelling-houses, which, a few 
years since, would rent for only one thousand dollars : 
now they are altered into offices; and what was once 
a kitchen, or a back wash-room, rents for four or five 
hundred dollars ; and the whole estates are trebled in 
value. In Pearl Street, where the Boston Athenceum 



46 MR. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 

once was, I saw elegant, fashionable residences erected, 
which in twenty years were torn down, and gave place- 
to solid, palatial warehouses. While studying my pro- 
fession, I saw a part of the granite block erected by 
Mr. Po C. Brooks, which has lately given ]Aixce to the 
Sears marble building. In the heart of a busy, 
growing city, the existence of a building scarcely 
averages thirty years. Buildings for new uses, in 
different styles, and with more stories, are called for. 
The enhancement of the land pays for the change. 
Walk now for an hour in some of the streets of Boston, 
where great improvements are made or in progress, 
and you will be convinced how foolish it would be to 
hesitate on this improvement in consequence of any 
buildings in the way. Yet it is admitted this avenue 
should be laid out if the land were clear. 

But I am told this is not Boston. True ; but this 
very spot is within a mile of the heart of Boston, and 
is right in front of the deepest and best water for 
navigation in what is called Boston Harbor. By this 
avenue, land on and near it, so central and eligible, will 
be redeemed from inferior uses, and be made to answer 
more appropriate and profitable purposes. If com- 
merce and business have been tendinsr southward, let 
US do what we can to make property near the Mystic 
at least as conducive to employment and profit, as, ere 
long, will be the estates near the Neponset. 

Let the coming Legislature see the record of your 
adoption of this measure and exhibit to them this Pho- 



MR. WAEREN'S ARGUMENT. 



47 



tographic View, and you will be more likely to obtain 
a grant for the much-desired Bridge Avenue to Boston. 
You might then lay a foundation for an appeal to the 
patriotic sentiment of the Commonwealth, which would 
overcome the opposition to removing the old landmarks 
of the Charles-River Bridge. 

As to the need for a street of easy grade from City 
Square to High Street, no stronger testimony can be 
given than that of Mr. Stowell, who remembers with 
what difficulty, during the erection of the monument, 
those massive blocks of granite were hauled up 
Winthrop Street, and the public attention which the 
hard efforts awakened. To the other obstacles which 
attended that great undertaking, the want of a suitable 
public street in which to draw the material to its des- 
tined place was added. Ever since, persons going tha'E 
way with loaded teams have experienced the same 
difficulty. If Mr. Goodnow's horses could speak, they 
would go for this avenue. 

It is not proposed to make it of uniform grade from 
its commencement. The View does not so exhibit it. 
But raisinoj the ojrade of Warren Street as much as 
practicable, a regular grade from that to High Street 
should be adopted ; and the situation is favorable. The 
expense of raising buildings, and of adapting other 
streets to the new grade, will be trifling indeed com- 
pared with the great permanent advantage. What an 
improvement is the raising the grade of Water and 
Devonshire Streets, near the site of the new post-office ; 



48 ME. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 

and how much more cheaply this grade of our .street 
can be established ! 

Some have told you that this measure is impracti- 
cable. If it be so, it is solely in your want of inclina- 
tion to advance the public interest in this regard. The 
committee on laying out streets made a similar report 
in September, 1853, with respect to a proposition to 
alter, widen, and extend Monument Avenue, and to 
make it then worthy of its name. But, in 1868, Mayor 
Robinson declared, at a hearing before the same com- 
mittee, that the proposition ought to have been 
adopted, and that the city had lost by its not having 
been done. This judgment, formed in fifteen years 
after, only shows what you might expect would be said 
of you, were it possible that you are not going to carry 
out this plan. 

Take the house at the corner of Adams and Winthrop 
Streets, adjoining Rev. Mr. Miles's for example. It 
commences at a point at the corner, and gradually 
widens on Winthrop Street to about thirty feet : it is a 
commodious house, of commanding front, and with 
windows looking upon two squares. There is not a lot 
on the proposed avenue which would not afford even a 
better site. It is astonishing to find how many pleasant 
dwelling-houses in Boston cover the whole land. 
Buildino-s for stores are the better for runnino; from 
street to street, having double fronts, better light and 
access. The less land, the higher the building, and 
the handsomer the front. If only they are on wide 



ME. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 49 

streets, the appearance of a city is vastly improved, 
and the sanitary advantages are not inconsiderable. 
If, in the country, it is a benefaction to make two 
blades of grass grow where one grew before, it is a 
proportionate advantage in a city, so to lay out the 
streets, wide and near together, and economize space in 
lots, that the value of a square foot of land may be 
doubled or trebled. In cities, the public must have 
ample room in streets. We hear much said of " one- 
horse" towns; but the phrase, "one-avenue" towns, 
designating those which have but one principal 
thoroughfare, is equally descriptive. 

The Monument Lots, so called, are restricted to a 
high class of buildings, set back from the front line, 
and devoted to certain uses. So much is secured for- 
ever. What becomes of that part of High Street 
fronting the Square is a matter of chance. The pro- 
posed avenue takes the only estate on this side which 
cannot be bought, and will not be improved : make this 
street, and the High-street side will conform to the 
other three, and you have a square, the effect of which, 
in the enhancement of estates in the vicinity, you can- 
not adequately appreciate. The building on the estate 
to be taken is not occupied by the owners (tenants, 
certainly, will not fight for their homes against the 
city's right to open streets) ; it is of little worth : a 
price per square foot of the land, according to the true 
value, will be a satisfactory compensation to the 
owners, who are not here to object. 



50 MR. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 

With Monument and City Squares even as they are, 
is tliere any doubt that this avenue connecting them 
will soon be appropriately built upon, with ordinary 
precautions on your part ? We can only judge of the 
future by the past. Thirty years ago, when the monu- 
ment stood only eighty feet high, the land around rude 
and ungraded, with not a piece of a paved sidewalk 
from Main, by the way of Winthrop, to High Street, 
there was an auction of one hundred and fifteen " House- 
lots in the vicinity of the monument," of which forty- 
five were restricted. A handsome plan was exhibited, 
showing the view of the monument completed, and 
elegant blocks of lofty brick houses enclosing the 
Square. Those who purchased the restricted lots were 
told they would never live to see the monument 
finished ; and that the idea of such houses ever being 
built in Charlestown, so far from Main Street, was 
absurd : or, if two or three should be erected, they 
could be neither sold nor rented for a remunerating 
price ! Although the spiiit of croaking still lives, it 
cannot be doubted, when w^e consider the start and 
impulse given at each end, and the greater resources 
and wealth of the city, that the ideal of the Photo- 
graphic View will be realized in a far briefer space of 
time. 

It is extremely rare that a street of this character 
can be laid out with so great economy as this. On 
City Square it takes but ten running feet of front land, 
and on Hjgh Street but thirty, making only forty feet 



MR. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 



61 



on the two squares ; whereas, were it not for existing 
openings, it would take one hundred and twenty feet. 
The net quantity of land taken for the whole street, 
after allowiug for parts of streets discontinued, is less 
than thirty-eight thousand square feet ; whereas, if it 
went wholly through private land, it would be seventy- 
two thousand. 

This saving of land would be a perfect answer to the 
objection made to the crossing of other streets in a 
diagonal direction. But Mr. Park, in his evidence, 
stated that this diagonal crossing would be a great 
advantage in an artistic point of view, and in its better 
effect upon the surrounding property. You will re- 
member that Mr. Dow testified that he was much in 
favor of the street from the first ; but, since he heard 
Mr. Park's explanations, he was more in favor ; and 
that, if he owned the whole property, he would make 
the street at his own expense. 

Fortunately there are three rich banking corpora- 
tions owning estates on this avenue, which took their 
names from the associations connected with the spot to 
which it leads, and which derived great advantage 
thereby, — the Bunker Hill National Bank, the Warren 
Institution for Savings, and the Monument National 
Bank. Their corporate interests, as well as the natural 
inclinations of the corporators, would, at the proper 
time, induce such an improvement of their estates on 
the new line, as would tend to cause other proprietors to 
follow their example. The old Bunker Hill Bank was 



52 MR. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 

the first organization — the Monument Association 
alone excepted — which in any way recognized our 
Revokitionary history ; and its unprecedented bank-note 
circulation and financial prosperity were greatly owing 
to its GOOD NAME. It owns a valuable estate, at small 
cost, a portion of which it intends to rebuild. By con- 
tributing only forty-five square feet, it would have a 
side front whose projecting bay-windows would look 
towards the monument on one side, and Charles River 
and Boston on the other. It would pay well to make 
the alteration. This bank was prompt, on the 19th 
April, 1861, to advance loans to this city to aid it in 
equipping and sending on her companies to the national 
defence ; and now that it has added National to its name, 
let it, while promoting its own interests and popular 
favor, take the lead in adorning this municipal memo- 
rial. 

The stately building of the Warren Institution for 
Savings would be vastly improved. The line fortu- 
nately takes off a part of the rear projection, giving it 
a straight front, and clearing away several nuisances 
and hazardous combustible buildings. By erecting a 
new facade on this line, under their skilful architect, the 
trustees could give new front entrances to the shops 
and the Post Office, and make the offices above more 
sightly and valuable. Several of the tenants are peti- 
tioners. The building, skilfully modified, would be 
wonderfully enhanced, and would be a still more wor- 
thy memento of the great martyr whose name it bears. 



MR. WAREEN'S ARGUMENT. 53 

The Monument National Bank touches the line on 
the rear of its lot. Its real estate stands at nothing on 
its books. As the Hard estate adjoins, from which a 
ten-feet strip is to be taken for Park Street, and as 
the building thereon is left of little value, this bank 
might unite with the flourishing Charlestown Five- 
Cents Savings Bank, its tenant, and erect the building 
shown on the plan. But whether the bank or the 
Hurd heirs do this, the investment will be judicious and 
lucrative. The president of this bank, and some of the 
corporators of this and the other two, are petitioners. 
The money paid for damages to the Hurd heirs for 
this and for Park Street would erect a handsome build- 
ing on the new lot, paying better than the old one. 

The land between the junction of the avenue with 
Park Street recedes back from City Squai-e Hke the 
block between Harvard and Bow Streets, and like that 
in Haymarket Square, Boston, between Union and 
Blackstone Streets ; or in the smaller square between 
Brattle Street and Cornhill. These are very precious 
sites for buildings, with great advantage of space, of 
light and access, worth three or four times what the 
same land would be on a single street, even if in rec- 
tangular lots. The stable of Messrs. Wiley is already 
to lose a ten-feet strip by Park Street. They can be 
compensated to a considerable degree by extending the 
new lines of Warren and Park Streets, discontinuing 
the open space, which would not be needed. This peti- 
tion was pending before they purchased ; so they can- 



54 MR. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 

not object. Cutting through the huge barn of Charles 
Hurd, which has stood so long, to the serious detriment 
of the surrounding property, would be an equal bless- 
ing to the owner and the public. Great improvement 
may be here anticipated, — any retrogression impossible. 
We need not fear that Mr. Barnard will make any 
distasteful or inappropriate use of his long frontage. 
Although a portion of his carriage-house, and his two 
brick dwelling-houses, are to be taken, he makes no 
opposition. He believes in this improvement, as men 
of his enterprise and business character generally do. 
You can satisfy Mr. Stowell by giving him a good bar- 
gain in his share of Winthrop Street discontinued, and 
in a short time he will thank us all for the great en- 
hancement of his property. In setting back the city 
armory, two wooden one-story schoolhouses are re- 
moved, which are unfit places for the children. Let 
the city not lag behind the banks ; but let it hasten to 
put a handsome front on the line, adding another story, 
with a Mansard roof, and the City Guard, the schools, 
and fire companies quartered there, will be proud of 
their new position. 

According to the first plan, the whole house of Mr- 
Waitt was to be taken to make a short fifty-feet street 
opening on Winthrop Square. But, since the opening 
of Park Street, this has become unnecessary ; as the 
object of a fine promenade is better accomplished by 
going round City Square, up this avenue, round Win- 
throp Square, and through Park Street. By giving Mr. 



MR. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 



55 



Waitt the piece of the armory lot and passage-way be- 
tween, the Avhole building can be so contrived as to be 
spacious enough to command a variety of prospect 
rarely found in one lot ; so that the estate will be worth 
as much as it is now. 

The rest of that block on Winthrop Street is slightly 
damaged ; and I predict that not many years will pass 
before handsome and high buildings will be erected in 
the rear ; and, either by an agreed change of lines 
among the owners, or by an architectural arrangement 
of the sites as they are, by circular fronts or otherwise, 
the sharp angles are made to disappear in the interior 
disposition of the apartments. In crossing the estates 
on either side of Soley Street, there are only one or 
two which are almost entirely taken : the greater part 
will be sufficient for house-lots equal to the average of 
those in Boston of the same or higher class, and bet- 
tered by being on an avenue of twice the width of the 
street on which they now are. The residue will have 
valuable strips, which may be put together, or joined to 
the rear land. Private interest and gain will adapt all 
the parcels to the street, so as to be made most availa- 
ble. 

By taking the Sturtevant estate, you emerge into 
the pure air of the monument grounds, and, behold ! the 
way is clear: the two squares are united, and the 
work is done. It may take some time for you to 
arrange all the details of negotiation or assessment; 
but the experience you have had as to Park Street and 
Crafts Corner will better show you how to do it ; and 



56 MR. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 

for the care and pains the duty may impose, you will 
have the well-earned reward of the public grati- 
tude. 

The net cost of the whole at first was estimated at 
$100,000. But this estimate included the fifty-feet 
street to Winthrop Square, and did not include cer- 
tain additional parts of Soley and Warren Streets, 
which, by careful study and examination, it is found 
should be discontinued. The net cost now, we find, 
cannot exceed sixty or seventy thousand dollars. Call 
it $75,000, at the outside; and the interest at six per 
cent, on a loan for twenty years, would be $4,500. 
Suppose hereafter our rate of taxes should be fifteen 
dollars on $1,000 (for this improvement will reduce the 
rate) ; then it will require an increase of valuation of 
$300,000 to pay that interest. Will the avenue cause 
this increase ? On Monument Street, extended from 
Bunker Hill to Medford Streets, you will get it. It will 
be almost a straight line from the Mystic to the Charles ; 
and the monument, towering up between, will make 
the distance on either side appear wonderfully short. 
The natural advantages of this location, for elevation, 
water-prospect, and rural view, cannot be equalled in 
this region ; and the character of the buildings to be 
erected depends upon the laying-out of this avenue. 

There will be an increase of taxable property to 
more than that amount on High Street, and that sec- 
tion bordering thereon as far as Salem Street. Monu- 
nent Court will be vastly improved, and the lower 



MK. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 57 

part of Soley Street also. Owners in both these places 
are petitioners. 

Another element, suggested by Mr. Torrey, is the 
personal property, subject to a tax, to be brought by 
persons attracted here by this improved access to our 
best lands. Here, again, experience teaches us. Dur- 
ing the last twenty years, I have known many instances 
of persons of large means, who were almost persuaded 
to build and live here, but who could not overcome 
their objections to the disagreeable approaches to those 
situations, which, when reached, they acknowledged to 
be most delightful. Then, again, persons who have 
bought and lived on Monument Square have sold, and 
moved away, whose united personal tax would pay the 
interest required. Considering all these consequences, 
the question seems to be, not whether this avenue will 
pay, but, rather, whether the city, injustice to its inter- 
ests, as well as to its character, can aflbrd any longer 
to delay it ? 

In putting the cost at $75,000, no allowance has 
been made for betterments of estates on streets adjoin- 
ing : these will reduce that amount. I will not stop to 
meet the objection of Mr. Lovitt, that assessments for 
these betterments cannot be collected : it is presumed 
that this Board is competent to do its duty. 

The first cost of Monument Avenue and its exten- 
sion was less than $25,000 ; the interest on which is 
$1,500, which a tax on $100,000 more than pays. The 



58 MR. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 

enhancement of values on this street and beyond, with- 
out the betterment law, has been mt)re than double 
that amount ; and keeping an account with the cost 
and interest, and with the increase of taxes received 
from the enhancement, Monument Avenue has paid for 
itself So says the witness, Mr. T. G. Frothingham : so 
say all of us. Now, the printed table before you shows 
what the money paid and to be paid by the Association 
will amount to in twenty years from 1870, if funded at 
seven per cent interest, payable annually, — a rate below 
what our banks receive. 

We know well enough, a "bargain is a bargain;" 
and the money will be paid. But is it conscionable 
in the city of Charlestovvn to receive this money 
from our patriotic Society without rendering a sat- 
isfactory equivalent, when this can be done in the 
way we ask, and the interests of the city can be pro- 
moted thereby ? Monument Avenue is not the avenue 
we asked for in 1847 : it was' laid out, with a mistaken 
economy, only forty feet wide, and one side of the 
monument, looking more to the interest of the land- 
owner. Though a good local street, it is not the ave- 
nue from Boston ; nor is it the one for our own people. 
If this fund is not thought to be large enough to meet 
the loan in twenty years, add a little to it from the 
betterment money. 

Let no one, however, laugh at these useful sinking- 
funds. The credit of Massachusetts and of Boston is 
strengthened by them, and posterity is relieved. It is 
an old approved way to pay new debts incurred. Let 



MR. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 



59 



Charlestown commence the system with this splendid 
avenue, and hereafter, as new enterprises are author- 
ized, plant the seed for the payment of the cost. 

It has been suggested that you ajDply to tliis work 
the money due from the Water -Works for interest on 
the water-loan, paid by taxation. How fitting it would 
be to employ the money returned from the success of 
one great improvement to the commencement of 
another ! As this can never be done more cheaply than 
now, so you will readily find the ways and means to 
do it. 

The route proposed was the one pointed out by 
Dr. William J. Walker, a native of Charlestown, as the 
one that should be adopted, soon after the monument was 
commenced. As soon as the Association saw that the 
forty-feet avenue to Main Street would not be the thing 
desired, they turned their attention to this route, but 
waited until all matters connected with the former ne- 
gotiation were properly adjusted. In 1867, the presi- 
dent, in his annual address, reported that a plan and a 
survey of this route were to be made, and a petition to 
be addressed to your Board to layout a suitable avenue 
in conformity therewith. That report was unanimously 
accepted, and ordered to be printed. The petition was 
presented, and a hearing had. In 1868, report was made 
thereon by the president, and a vote was unanimously 
passed that the president should prosecute that petition, 
with the proviso, inserted at his suggestion, that the 
avenue should be at no cost to the Association : that 





60 MR. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 

the city might distinctly understand that the Associa- 
tion would pay no more annuities beyond the existing 
agreement. At the last meeting, the president reported 
that the matter was referred to this Board, and that 
there was hope that the measure would be accomplished 
the present year; and he was again authorized and 
requested to take all possible means to present to your 
attention their petition as fully and fairly as possible. 

While Park Street was pnt through upon no petition 
whatever, but on an Order submitted by Alderman Dow ; 
while Warren Street was widened, and the buildings at 
the junction with Main Street removed without any 
petition (although there was a petition of a few citi- 
zens to go back farther to a line with Church Court, 
bringing the Universalist Church in view, and giving to 
it a better access), both which measures T believe to be 
justifiable, — the Monument Association, imi^elled by 
public and patriotic considerations, and deeming their 
duty yet unperformed in this regard, have been at 
greater expense and labor in preparing surveys, plans, 
estimates, tabular statements, views, and in other inci- 
dental matters, than have ever before been any other 
petitioners to any Municipal Board of Charlestown. 
They propose, further, to place before you in permanent 
form, in order to assist your deliberations, some of the 
grounds already stated orally, upon which they feel 
bound to press their claim. 

This year, petitioners many and influential have 
sprung to our aid. It is one thing, Mr. Mayor, for tax- 



MR. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 61 

payers to request you under their own hands to mcur 
a large expenditure, and quite another thing for others 
to sign a remonstrance to the same. The former are 
supposed to act upon examination and judgment ; the 
others may act from private interest, personal fixvor, or 
prejudice. Your attention having been called as to the 
wishes of those on Monument Square, I find, from the 
assessors' books, that, of the owners of estates on the 
four sides of the Square, a majority, both in number and 
in the taxed valuation, are petitioners, and only three 
have recorded their names as remonstrants ; and of these, 
two, singularly enough, have recently purchased, and 
their grantors are petitioners ; and I believe that these 
two will soon be with us. Of the others, they are from 
every ward ; showing that the improvement is by no 
means local, but in the largest sense municipal, and, in- 
deed, national. You will find the solid men, men of great 
enterprise, builders, professional men, clergymen, law- 
yers, architects, and engineers, and the promising young 
men of the city : many of them are representative 
men, the types and the hope of the city's progress. 
Our enterprising post-master and the majority of our 
public press go with us. 

The remonstrants are no more than miaht be ex- 
pected : some of them do not profess to be citizens nor 
tax-payers. I believe that the non-resident petitioners 
would about balance, in their taxes, all the remon- 
strants, leaving out those whose land is to be taken. 
One of these stated to you that several to whom the 



62 MR. warren's argument. 

remonstrance was presented had refused to sign ; and 
it is a very creditable thing to the city, that, with all 
the effort and exaggerated statement of cost, so few 
have remonstrated. 

The witnesses of the petitioners were men who had 
studied the subject, and spoke from positive knowledge : 
Mr. Dow, who has marked with his improvements the 
whole line from the top of Harvard Hill through the 
Square to Front Street, and whose tax is probably the 
largest; Mr. Park, the travelled architect and artist, who 
has for a long time paid special attention to the effect 
of this street ; Mr. Torrey, who first gave an estimate 
upon assumed distances and areas, which did not wholly 
apply, but, at the next meeting, you remember, he re- 
affirmed his opinion as applied to the exact locality ; and 
the printed statement of Mr. J. H. Rand the architect, 
who built the block in Soley Street, and who superin- 
tended the bank building; of the Warren Institution for 
Savino;s are referred to. 

The testimony on the other side was that of those 
who will be claimants for damat2;es. The rest were 
doubtful merely : they were not experts in any sense ; 
nor have they been to any extent engaged in building. 

Of the objections urged in argument, not yet glanced 
at. the most alarmino; was that aa^ainst straig;ht, cannon- 
hall streets. Need we fear such danger from this ave- 
nue, to be only five times the length of the monument, 
and twice its breadth? We will take the risk, Mr. 



MR. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 63 

Mayor. Time was, in Paris, when the populace would 
tear up the pavements and fight with them : hence the 
emperor ordered the streets to be macadamized. Must 
we, therefore, have paved streets where we live ? Be- 
cause the emperor made wide streets and boulevards 
for his subjects, shall not you, on behalf of the people, 
provide them? Even the blind preacher, Millburn, 
when in Paris, could, through his remaining senses, feel 
the elevation of spirit, and the exaltation of soul and 
of character, when under such influences. Look at 
Chicago, with her straight streets seven miles long. 
Read the evidence of Dr. Holmes, and the forcible arti- 
cles of Mr. Elizur Wright, and you will learn the real 
dangers against which it is your duty to guard. 

We, who have been a long while accustomed to 
crooked ways, are not aware of the antipathy which 
strangers feel. As our senses become blunted, character 
may, in course of time, be affected. The injunction, 
" Make your paths straight," is as old as Holy Writ. 
The judgment which Dr. Dwight passed upon our an- 
cestors still hangs over us, and threatens us more and 
more as population advances. 

It is proposed to give us a route by Park Street and 
through Winthrop Square. But Mr. Hull says that 
Park Street was intended in no way as a substitute for 
ours. It goes in another direction. At its terminus, 
you do not see the monument, nor would you on such 
a ?street for the whole distance on either sidewalk. 
You would spoil, to no purpose, what may be a beauti- 



64 MR. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 

fill square. We ask for a fish, and they would have 
you give us a serpent. 

Then it is suo-orested that monuments should be in a 
retired nook or corner not easily seen ; and in the 
next breath you are exhorted to erect a soldiers' monu- 
ment. As the learned counsel spoke somewhat in dero- 
gation of the Bunker Hill Monument and the cause 
it represents, and somewhat more in depreciation of the 
patriotic utterances of that great orator, as contrasted 
with the stirring events and eloquent men of our day, 
it must have occurred to you, that, if it be indeed true 
that this D-eneration were cominu; to lose the veneration 
due to the princijoles and heroism of our Revolutionary 
fathers, with what feelings of neglect or aversion may 
not the next generation regard tlie monument you pro- 
pose to erect to our soldiers ? The counsel regretted 
that he did not hear the masterly and unanswerable 
argument of Mr. Wheildon. If he had heard it, he 
would have toned and tempered his speech so as to 
have kept to the dignity of the subject. But he was 
speaking for his clients ; and he could not have uttered 
their mature convictions even, but rather the logical 
deductions from their false position of hostility to the 
great object the petitioners have in view. 

If they had said the thing was magnificent, indeed, 
but utterly beyond your power; that the city was too 
POOR to start what in the end would pay, and the ac- 
complishment of which, we believe, would establish the 
credit of the city more firmly, — they might have 



MR. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 65 

keenly wounded your pride, and that of your fellow- 
citizens, but they would have attested some appreciation 
on their part of a splendid design. 

It will not do to deride aesthetic culture. We 
need not wonder that Monument and Winthrop 
Squares are sometimes treated with contumely ; 
that the enclosure of City Square is kept neat 
and trim only because it is under lock and key ; 
that this new City Hall is already defaced with marks ; 
and that fences and buildings are injured, — when 
we have so long kept the most glorious memorial the 
sun ever shone upon, hid from the public view, as a 
lio-ht from a golden candlestick under a bushel. Nor 
need we wonder at some who say, " If any strangers 
come, they can somehow find the way to the monu- 
ment. We want no new way to it." Open this 
avenue, and you remove a thick veil. 

Let me quote the words of Mr. Park : — 

" By the opening of this avenue, the grand propor- 
tions of this famous memorial will at once present 
themselves to view from the principal entrance into 
the city, and, together with the picturesqueness of the 
street arrangement, will produce the most impressive 
city view in this country, and one not excelled by any 
in the world. 

" Seldom is it that a monument placed as this one is, 
upon the very site of the battle-ground itself, has so 
commanding a position, standing as it does on a hill, — 
Bunker Hill. By the consummation of this project, it 



66 MR. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 

will be relieved of all intervening objects, and be bared 
from base to summit, in all its grandeur, against the sky 
for a background." 

Art promotes art ; one tasteful building provokes 
another ; and disagreeable sights disappear. Open 
this avenue, and soon, by voluntary efforts, the sug- 
gestion of Gen. Dana will be carried out ; and you will 
see the statne of John Winthrop standing in front, 
with his face turned southward to the noble metrop- 
olis, and his hand pointing to that pillared Mount 
of Sacrifice which transformed the colony he founded 
into an independent State. The Monument Square 
shall be adorned as our means may permit, in the best 
manner that art and taste can suggest. When all this 
shall be done, whoever shall speak of Bunker Hill 
Monument will connect it with the Grand Avenue you 
have laid out, which will have a fame not inferior to 
that of the Corso of Rome, the Strada Reale of 
Naples, the Rue de la Paix of Paris, or the Unter den 
Linden of Berlin. 

Do you wish to realize all this for the city under your 
care? Lay out this avenue, and the work is half done. 
Incipere est dimidium. To begin is half. 

Do you suppose, Mr. Mayor, if it had been foreknown 
in the spring of 1825 that it would be eighteen years 
from the laying of the corner-stone to the raising of the 
cap-stone, that they would have j)ostponed the com- 
mencement of the work ? Had the projectors allowed 



MR. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 



67 



the popular tide of the half-century anniversary and of 
Lafayette's visit to subside without effort, think you 
the monument would now have been built ? 

The place where Webster stood, on the 17th June, 
1825, with the people around hhn, and the place where 
that historic scene of 1843 transpired, are both covered 
with dwellings. Hereafter the popular gatherings on 
great occasions will be on the beautiful slope on the 
southerly side, stretching down your other streets, and 
down this avenue to City Square. Prepare now for the 
great centennial. 

Let me remind you of the obligations this city is 
under to the Bunker Hill Monument Association. For 
fifty years the field of Bunker Hill was private land. 
The founders of that association, in executing their 
great work, contributed more service than all the un- 
paid labor of the municipal governments of Charlestown 
and Boston during the time. I need not recall the 
names of Webster and Everett, of Brooks and Lincoln, 
of Willard and Russell, of Baldwin and Dearborn, of 
Tudor and Perkins, of Amos and Abbott Lawrence, of 
Prescott and Buckingham, of Wales and Darracott, 
of Wells and Thorndike, and of scores of others, whose 
names are identified with this monument. 

All the advantage of their labors is yours. Look at 
Tufts' Plan of Charlestown in 1818, and observe how 
much consideration is due for the streets and lots laid 



68 MR. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 

out by them on land surrendered back to private use. 
Your valuation of that land as now improved is over 
one million. The wise restrictions on the lots facing 
the square have saved Charlestown from being a wood- 
en city. Recognize, City Fathers, this obligation, and 
uncover the everlasting crown of the city. 

The Cuma3an sibyl, as we read the early history of 
Rome, presented to the king nine books, for which a 
high price was demanded. The offer rejected, she 
burned three, and presented the six for the same price. 
Again rejected, she burned three more, and returned 
again with the remaining three, demanding for them 
the same price she first asked for the nine. The last 
offer was accepted ; and the sibylline books were pre- 
served, cherished, and consulted by those who governed 
Rome for five hundred years. From this singular his- 
tory, or fable, we take this extract of ancient wisdom : 
that, in the foundation of cities or of States, whatever is 
clearly desirable for the public welfare should be at 
once secured, or afterwards necessity will compel the 
purchase of a part for as much, or more, even, than the 
Avhole would have cost at first. 

The Bunker Hill Monument Association now again, 
and for the third and critical time, advocate their peti- 
tion. They are joined by an array of citizens, who, in 
asking you to grant it, are convinced that the citj^'s own 
interests w^ill be greatly advanced. The Association 
represent that silent Orator, whose influence may be 



MR. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 69 

made to become more potent by far than any sibyl 
or deity of heathen mythology, as it may be viewed 
by the masses, whether in the day of jubilee, of national 
disaster, or in the quiet every-day life of undisturbed 
avocation. It pleads to you, as you may gaze upon it 
from that favored window in the broad glare of lunar 
light, that you shall no longer suffer it to be shut out 
from the daily view of the busy throng, but that you 
will open up to it the desired avenue, that it may 
speak to the popular heart, and that its visible pres- 
ence, bursting upon the thousands on thousands as they 
pass through this square, renowned as the seat of the 
early settlement, may remind them of the liberty and 
glory of their country, and of wliat that country expects 

of THEM. 

Mr. Mayor, I greatly envy you and each of your as- 
sociates, in this your opportunity. All that most of us 
can liope will be said of our humble efforts, is that we 
served, or attempted to serve, well our day and genera- 
tion. But you, gentlemen, have it in your power, by 
taking measures to secure this improvement noav, and 
to provide for its accomplishment the coming year, not 
only to serve this generation, but to make all posterity 
your debtor. The beneficent, all-pervading influences 
of this act of consummate forecast will endure as long 
as that world-renowned obelisk shall stand on yon 
famous height, keeping company with the sun and the 
heavenly stars, ever telling those who here shall enjoy 



70 



MR. WARREN'S ARGUMENT. 



civil and religious liberty how to appreciate their birth- 
right; as long as Bunker Hill and Faneuil Hall, brought 
by this in closer communication, shall be associated with 
the birth of the g-reat American Republic on the bright 
page of the world's instructive history. 




3sr O T E s. 



Dr. Dvvight's Strictures. — Every one now acknowledges their force; 
and it is admitted that the town should have been regularly laid out after 
the Revolution. Yet now this avenue can be laid out, and one or two other 
streets straightened and extended, with as little relative cost. There is now an 
occupation and a business connected with the territory that would prompt 
an immediate improvement and adaptation. Charlestown is yet young, com- 
pared with the places of the Old World, and just beginning to develop its 
local advantages, which are unsurjjassed. 

Annual Payments. — The annual payments made and to be made by 
the Association will, if regularly invested, amount to fifty thousand dollars 
in twenty years, or enough to pay the net debt to be incurred, betterments 
beyond the street being deducted. 

The Bridge Avenue. — When the charter for Warren Bridge was 
granted, the directors of the Corporation applied to their fellow-citizen, Col. 
LoAMMi Baldwin, who stood at the head of his profession of civil engineers, 
for a plan. With great cai-e and study he prepared one, to be of stone piers 
and arches, with a stone or iron superstructure to be covered with gravel, 
of the width of eighty feet, with a circular bridge and draw, enclosing a 
basin for the reception of vessels, so that there might be no detention of 
travel at the draw. This bridge might then have been built for 8120,000, 
and, when built, would have required no repairs. One of the directors — an 
economical man — returned the plan, and said to Col. Baldwin, " We in- 
tend, colonel, to buiU a bridge of wood, for (bur years' interest on what 
yours will cost." — " No doubt," replied the colonel, ■' you can do it ; but 

71 



72 NOTES. 

how long will such a wooden structure last?" So we find out now, after 
more than half a million of dollars have been expended, and a great part 
wasted, that his plan, for economy aiui for public convenience, is now wanted. 

The extension of Washington Street to Haymarket Square ; the new 
wide bridge, with no detention at the draws ; and the avenue to the monu- 
ment, — are the three things most desirable for Charlestown and Boston. 

Col. Baldwin made the first plan and estimate for the Monument ; and he 
illustrated to the Committee, of which he was Chairman, how superior the 
view and approach to the Monument would be from a diagonal direction, 
showing two sides of the obelisk, by setting up a shingle, cut in the sliape of 
the front, which he said would be the appearance from a rectangular 
direction, showing but one side. 

Tenants will not fight for their homes. — Alluding to the elo- 
quent remark of counsel, that " our fathers fought to protect their homes." 
As if that was an argument against a street ! 

The View of 1839. — At the time this view was exhibited, showing 
the monument completed and the square handsomely built upon, the work 
on the monument was not only suspended, but the Association was embar- 
rassed, and there was no prospect of completion. Tlie ladies' fair in 1840 
finished the work. The expectation that this avenue will be handsomely 
built upon in a very short time is far more reasonable than the hope then 
held out in relation to the monument and Monument S([uare. 

The Cost. — That the cost can, by proper exertions, be made to come 
within the statements of the petitioners can be easily demonstrated. 

Cannon-Ball Streets. — Alluding to the remark of Napoleon, quoted 
in the case, " That cannon-balls go in a straight line." As if that was the 
only or the best reason for laying out straight streets in a city ! 

That Historic Scene. — The painting by John Pope, representing 
Mr. Webster delivering' the address on the completion of the monument, 
which stood in front of the speaker, was presented to the city by Mr. Warren, 
on behalf of the subscribers, in 1853, as a suitable memorial of the great 
statesman and orator. 



NOTES. 73 

The proposed Statue to John Wintiirop. — The " Great House," 
where Governor Winthroj) is supposed to have first unrolled the Colonial 
Charter before the Council, is on City Square ; and the proper position for 
the Statue, as indicated in the argument, would be near, if not on the precise 
spot, where he then stood. When this avenue is constructed, it would be an 
easy matter for the people of Charlostown and Boston — both which places 
he founded — to raise the necessary funds, by Ladies' Fairs, or by voluntary 
subscription.--, to erect this desired Monumental Statue, which would be well- 
placed as it is merited. 

The Favored Window. — The window from the Council Chamber, in 
which the argument was delivered, in the third story of City Hall, gives 
the finest view of the monument to be had in Charlestown, or anywhere 
else, except from the harbor. This view, not now enjoyed by the multitude, 
the AVENUE will give to all who cross City Square. 



ARGUMENT 



SAMUEL S. WILLSON, ESQ. 



MR. WILLSON'S ARGUMENT. 



Gentlemen : — 

On behalf of the petitioners, I appear to speak in 
favor of the proposed street from City Square to Monu- 
ment Square. When a measure of the magnitude of 
the one we propose comes before your Board, it is ex- 
pected that the petitioners shall show a public necessity 
and a public benefit. When we ask ourselves why 
Charlestown, every part of which is nearer the business 
part of Boston than the most valuable resident portion 
of Boston is itself even, is not occupied by valuable 
buildings and costly residences, there comes but one 
answer ; and that, coming from many different sources, 
is always the same : Because Charlestown is not made 
pleasant and attractive to the eye : its streets are narrow 
and crooked, with unsightly jogs. If you wish to have 
splendid residences take the place of the unsightly ones, 
you must do something to make it more profitable to the 
owners to make the change. Fortunately for the friends 
of this measure, changing narrow to wide streets is 
no experiment. It has been tried, as we shall show, 
not only to the great profit of the public, but also to 



78 MR. WILLSON'S ARGUMENT. 

individual advantage. This is an age of improvement. 
Boston has in contemplation a wide street, connecting 
Washington Street with Haymarket Square. From 
thence to the new bridge, which must of necessity be 
soon built, a wide street in extension of Washington 
Street follows as a matter of necessity. 

If, then, we wish capitalists to invest in real estate, and 
beautify our city, we must be liberal in improvements, 
particularly in beautifying and adorning our public 
streets and squares. Who now believes that the fence 
and fountain in our City Square is not a public benefit ? 
Who would have them removed ? Who now thinks the 
money was not well spent ? So of the widening of Main 
and Warren Streets, and the making of Park Street. But 
I will not weary you with lengthy remarks. I know we 
shall be met with the reply, "No doubt the new street 
would be desirable, but can it be made at a cost within the 
ability of the city to pay ? " To the answering of this 
question we propose to make some statements and call 
some evidence, which we hope will conclusively show, 
first, that it can be done at a comparatively trifling cost, 
when we take into account the advantages which will 
accrue to all that portion of the city through which it 
passes, but also to every estate lying east of High Street. 

We next wish to call the attention of the Board to the 
economy of action this year, and the cost of delay ; and 
to the enhanced value' of the land bounded by the new 
street over its present worth. 



MK. WILLSON'S AitGUMENT. 79 

If we but show sufficient enterprise and appreciation 
of our neighbor's work to beautify the entrance to our 
city from Boston, undoubtedly Washington Street will 
ere long be extended to the bridge, thereby insuring an 
early completion of a wide bridge connecting the two 
cities, with draws so constructed that the passage of car- 
riages and foot-passengers shall at no time be obstructed ; 
which is the i»:reat work to be consummated before our 
communication with Boston can be said to be in accord- 
ance with the demands of the large and constantly in- 
creasing travel between the two cities. 

You all know that two stables, occupying as many 
square feet of land each as any stable in the city with 
one exception, have, for the last forty years at least, con- 
tinued to defy any movement for improvement; and that, 
too, within two hundred feet of the most valuable land 
in the city, within that short distance of the fountain in 
City Square. Will this proposed street make these estates 
more available for the stabling business ? Can any man 
look at the plan, and not be convinced that this street 
will so limit both of these stable-lots that that particular 
business cannot be carried on upon those premises with 
profit? The fact is patent to all who examine the 
premises. It is well known to the proprietors, and 
therefore they are not in favor of this avenue. What 
class of buildings will be erected upon this street, if in 
your wisdom you grant the prayer of the petitioners, 
will depend solely upon the question what will be the 
most profitable. The law that governs elsewhere gov- 



80 MR. WILLSON'S ARGUMENT. 

erns here. Now, on a street .sixty feet wide, connecting 
such two public squares as City Square and Monument 
Square, giving a frontage for building purposes of over 
eight hundred feet on each side, — sixteen hundred feet 
of front on the most magnificent avenue in the city, — 
how is it possible, that, for any length of time, a single 
foot of such frontage can remain unoccupied by hand- 
some stores and dwellings ? This street must of necessi- 
ty become the principal thoroughfare for all citizens liv- 
ing on our highlands east of High Street, and be the 
direct line of travel between their residences and City 
Square and Boston. 

A careful examination of the plan submitted to your 
Honorable Board will show, that, although the lots, as 
at present constituted, will be left in many places small 
and angular, yet in nearly every case the land so left is 
so situated, with respect to the back land adjoining it, 
that the owner of the now unavailable back land may, 
by buying a few feet of land at a comparatively trifling 
cost, throw all his back land upon a sixty-foot street, 
thereby increasing the value of his back land tenfold, 
and making every foot of this sixteen hundred feet 
front available for first-class building. Gentlemen, I do 
not intend to amuse you with any flights of fancy, nor, 
by any burst of eloquence, divert your mind from the 
consideration of the weak points in our case, if there 
be any. I leave such a course entirely to the counsel 
for the remonstrants ; but I seek, in the plainest and 
simplest manner, to present the views and wishes of the 
petitioners, seeking and asking only that you will care- 



MR. WILLSON'S ARGUMENT. 



81 



fully weigh the testhnoiiy and the arguments which we 
present, and the character and ability of our witnesses; 
and, after weighing them well against the objections of 
the remonstrants, we ask you to decide whether, as con- 
servators of the public good, in your opinion you ought 
not to grant our petition. 

But 1 cannot, with justice, close my plea for the 
petitioners without briefly stating those objections of 
the remonstrants, as I understand them, and answer- 
ing them. The objections of the remonstrants are of 
two classes : those alleged here, — their public reasons, — 
and those individual and private reasons which they 
give us in private, but which they have not seen tit to 
present for the consideration of this Board. First, then, 
we will consider the public objections. We are told 
that the citizens very generally oppose it. If the state- 
ment be true, why have the remonstrants failed to 
bring them here to oppose it, either by their presence 
or their names ? We are told that the tax-payers do 
not favor it and cannot bear the expense. To this 
statement we only reply, that tax-payers owning proper- 
ty whose assessed value is over four milUons of dollars 
are the petitioners for this street. Surely we are justi- 
fied in supposing these gentlemen to be capable of know- 
ing what is for their own interest, as well as for the city's. 
We are told, also, that they believed that the street would 
cost over two hundred thousand dolhxrs, and that there 
would be no chance for betterment. Now, we have pre- 
pared a careful estimate, giving the cost; and this esti- 
mate in no case being less than twenty per cent higher 



11 



82 MR. WILLSON'S ARGUMENT. 

than the assessors' valuation of the estates last year, 
and in every case where the new lot was not large 
enough to contain the present building, we have only 
estimated the value of the lot remaining, pro rata per 
foot, for what it is now valued at, allowing full com- 
pensation for the building. The estimates and measure- 
ments are by the best qualified of our citizens to judge; 
and we find the net cost on the avenue, without reckon- 
ing betterments beyond, to be about sixty-five thousand 
dollars. 

We shall present the opinion of one of the best 
architects and artists in the country. Mr. Park will 
testify that there is not a foot bordering on the proposed 
street that could not be devoted to first-class buildings, 
or to public adornment. He has presented you with a 
picture of elegant three and four story French-roof build- 
ings. It is said, that, in an fBsthetic point, the angles 
would be bad and unsightlj^ Mr. Park says that the 
street could be made grand and exceedingly beautiful. 
It is proper and fitting to call your attention to the fact 
that neither the business nor the experience of the re- 
monstrants qualifies them to instruct you upon this point. 
The petitioners will put in the testimony of persons most 
skilled upon the various subjects which we have pre- 
sented for your consideration. 

In regard to the effect on real estate, we shall present 
the greatest operator in real estate Charlestown has 
ever known. In the matter of measurements, we have 
presented a civil engineer and surveyor of unsurpassed 



MR. WILLSON'S ARGUMP^NT. OO 

skill. As to the aesthetic efiect, we shall present you the 
testimony of an artist whose talents are well known, and 
whose reputation is not confined to his native city or 
native State. We knew that you ought to require the 
best testimony on these subjects, and therefore we shall 
produce it. We shall thus meet and answer the public 
objections. 

Allow me to state my own opinion respecting the 
private objections of the remonstrants. These touch 
their pockets only. Although private interests should 
always give way to the public good, yet liberal allow- 
ance should be made for property taken from the 
individual citizen for the good of all. 

It is stated, as a principal argument why the petition 
should not be granted, that none of the persons whose 
estates were taken by the street were in favor of the 
petition. This, if an argument against the proposed 
street, would apply equally well against any and all 
improvements. Private attachments and predilections 
always meet and oppose any change ; hut these should 
always be met with a firm yet liberal spirit. And, in my 
opinion, public policy, as well as justice, require that the 
compensation allowed for estates so taken should always 
be up to the full value, while the betterments assessed 
should always be much below the real value. The city, 
making such a grand improvement as this, to last for 
all time, can afford to be generous even. 



84 MR. WILLSON'S ARGUMENT. 

In conclusion, gentlemen, thanking you for the 
opportunity you have given us to show the claims of 
the petitioners, I beg leave to put in the evidence on 
their part ; and, after the remonstrants have been heard, 
the Bunker Hill Monument Association will assume the 
duty of closing the argument in its behalf 



ABSTRACT OF EVIDENCE. 



ABSTRACT OF EVIDENCE. 



William S. Park of Boston, Architect, had visited for- 
eign countries, and spoke in favor of the widening and 
laying out streets in general, and also as to the benefits 
to be accrued in this particular instance. He had been 
in Europe, and through the principal cities of America ; 
but had never seen a structure which was so imposing 
as this would be rendered by the proposed avenue. 

In laying out cities so that the greatest advantage 
may be gained by the combination of utility and beauty, 
two systems present themselves for the general arrange- 
ment of streets. First, a system by which all tlie streets 
are made to cross each other at right angles, and another 
by which they are made to diverge from, and converge 
to, certain points of marked interest. Some cities are 
planned wholly upon the first principle, while others 
are arranged upon the other ; that is to say, while some 
streets, or districts of streets, indeed cross at right angles, 
the main effort is to concentrate attention upon perma- 
nent landmarks and centres of business by direction of 
main avenues to and from those points. While the first- 
named principle of arrangement offers, pei'haps, perfect 



88 ABSTEACT OF EVIDENCE. 

advantages to the transaction of business, but can claim 
nothing of picturesque beauty, a city arranged after 
the other plan loses no business facilities ; and, by care- 
fully designing structures to suit their locations, here 
and there appropriating bits of ground at the sharpest 
street-angles for the site of flower-gardens, trees, and 
fountains, is filled with delightful street-views. In the 
former case, a building standing upon a corner gains 
but very little advantage over any other by its position 
in the street-view, as it cannot be seen until approached 
quite near ; whereas in cases where the streets are forked, 
or cross each other obliquely, as frequently occur in the 
latter arrangement, buildings placed at the angles may 
be seen from quite a distance, and become conspicuous 
objects in the view. 

In applying the foregoing named principles to the 
proposed avenue from City Square to the monument, 
it is plain this undertaking comes under the second- 
named system of arrangement. Here is an object of 
great historical and esthetic interest, without any direct 
and handsome approach, and which can he seen from no 
point in the city under the adoantageous circumstances 
it deserves. By the opening of this avenue, the grand 
proportions of this famous memorial will at once pre- 
sent themselves to view from the principal entrance 
into the city, and, together with the picturesqueness of 
the street arrangement, will produce the most impres- 
sive city-view in this country, and one not excelled by 
any in the world. 

Seldom is it that a mouument placed as this one is, 



ABSTRACT OF EVIDENCE. 89 

upon the very site of the battle-ground itself, has so 
commanding a position, standing as it does on a hill, — 
Bunker Hill. By the consummation of this project, it 
will be relieved of all intervening objects, and be bared 
from base to summit, in all its grandeur, against the sky 
for a background. The immediate construction of this 
avenue would have the effect to insure the extension of 
Washington Street in Boston to Haymarket Square, 
and a chano-e of the location of Charles River Brido-e 
to a line parallel and adjacent to Warren Bridge, mak- 
ing of the two bridges one spacious avenue to Boston. 

Moses A. Dow said he had signed the petition for 
the general benefit of Charlestown. He was strongly 
in favor of this street from the first ; but, since he 
heard Mr. Park's explanations as to the effect of 
diagonal street-crossings, he was more in favor than ever 
before. Unquestionably the street ought to be laid out. 
If this street were laid out, a great amount of land which 
is now rear lots would become front ones. Better 
buildings would be placed thereon, and the danger 
from fire would be much less. 

He considered that not only should this street be 
laid out, of easy grade, but all the property in the vi- 
cinity of Park, Chelsea, and Henley Streets should be 
raised for the health and comfort of the residents and 
the value of property. This street must some time be 
laid out, and delay was expensive. Every foot of land 
in the city would be raised in value by this improve- 
ment He considered that the improvements in City 

12 



90 ABSTRACT OF EVIDENCE. 

Square had increased the valuation of Charlestown more 
than one milKon dollars. The present occupation of 
the territory has an injurious effect upon surrounding 
property. A fire would be a benefit to the neighbor- 
hood, if the street were not laid out. 

Everett Torrey said he considered the street should 
be laid out for the general interest of Charlestown. 
What Charlestown wants is broad avenues. Here was 
a good chance to inaugurate such a policy, at trifling 
cost compared with the benefits. He gave some esti- 
mates, not based upon the dimensions of the street, but 
upon the subject in a general sense, in which the value 
of property would be much improved. 

The following testimony given at the hearing before 
the Board last year was also submitted : — 

James H. Rand, Esq., Architect, testified that the 
enhanced value of the estates would be very great, even 
more than Mr. Buchanan had estimated ; so that the 
cost would be less than his estimate. He thought that 
the general advancement of property in the vicinity 
would fully compensate for the making of this street, 
even though it should cost double the estimates. He 
had examined the whole plan, and believed that all 
the land upon the street, even the triangular pieces, 
could be used to advantage, and be worth vastly more 
than they now are. This street would be of an easier 
grade ; so that access to High Street would be much 
improved for the benefit of the heavy travel. He was 



ABSTRACT OF EVIDENCE. 91 

in favor of making the avenue even sixty feet wide, so 
as to show the monument in the centre from Warren 
Bridge. The city could not make anywhere so great 
an improvement as this. Most of the streets are irregu- 
lar ; and it is very important that wide and straight 
avenues be laid out, so as to bring the land into the 
most profitable use. 

Estimates of cost, plans, and photographic views, were 
presented and explained. 

In accordance with the suggestion of Mr. Rand, and 
of the petitioners generally, the petition and plans are 
for a sixty-feet avenue, instead of fifty feet, as before 
proposed. 



[From The Charlestown Advertiser.] 

THE NEW STREET TO THE MONUMENT. 



As a part of the proposed improvements, not only 
desirable, but deemed in the progress of events abso- 
lutely essential for the interests of Charlestown, is the 
straight and broad avenue from City Square to the 
monument, the centre of the avenue being in a line 
with the centre of the monument. The adoption of 
this measure by our City Council the present year will 
have great weight with the Common Council of Boston 
in confirming the extension of Washington Street to 
Haymarket Square, as already decided by the Aldermen 
of that city. It will have none the less weight with 
the Legislature next January, when it shall be invoked 
to authorize the consolidatino- of the two brido-e ave- 
nues to Boston into one maii-nificent hitrliwav over 
Charles River, having two circular routes over the 
channel, with draws for the passage of vessels, so ar- 
ranged that the travel may pass over the one or the 
other without interruption. 

If Charlestown shall do its part, and open the avenue 
to the monument, and if the other two projects be 
carried out, Washington Street, from its commencement 



THE NEW STREET TO THE MONUMENT. 93 

at the southernmost limit of Boston, would lead directly 
to the finest monument in the world, the superb view 
of which would be enjoyed by the traveller as he 
passes over the bridge, before he enters upon the 
limits of Charlestown. The effect of this will not only 
be to afford infinite pleasure and delight in beholding a 
magnificent object of architecture — unequalled any- 
where in the world — but it will give great practical 
value and appreciation to all the property extending 
on and beyond High Street to the top even of old 
Bunker Hill. 

The remark is often made, that there are a great 
many pleasant situations in Charlestown still unim- 
proved, and also elegant residences not yet able to com- 
mand their relative intrinsic value in the market, be- 
cause there is no suitable and pleasant access to them. 
There is not a handsome, direct, and well-graded street 
to our highlands; and all these lands — some of which 
are the finest in this vicinity — are greatly depreciated 
on this account. 

The proposed iivenuc meets the great public want. 
Conunencing at the centre of the northerly side of 
City Square, the opening for which is now nearly pro- 
vided, its whole length to High Street is but twelve 
hundred feet. But, as it passes over existing ways, its 
course over private lands is but ten hundred and fifty 
feet. The avenue, being twelve hundred feet long by 
sixty wide, requires scyenty-two thousand square feet ; 
by discontinuing paits of streets that will not be re- 
quired, and deducting the crossings, the quantity of 



94 THE NEW STREET TO THE MONUMENT. 

private land that will be taken for this purpose will be 
about thirty-eight thousand square feet, or but two 
thousand more than one-half of the whole area. 

But the cheapness and economy with which this 
avenue can now be laid out are more strikingly appar- 
ent when we compare the present occupation of the 
land, and the character of the buildings upon it, with 
the first-class improvements which would inevitably be 
made as soon as this avenue is constructed. It would 
be impossible to suppose that a wide and well-graded 
avenue, extending from City Square to the monument, 
would not command for every foot of its frontage more 
than double or treble the price which the same land 
would now bring in its present condition. 

By several independent estimates made by competent 
judges, the net cost to the city of laying out and con- 
structing this avenue, allowing for betterments only on 
the two sides thereof, would be about sixty thousand 
dollars. One-half, at least, of this sum might be assessed, 
under the betterment law, upon the estates extending 
beyond. The whole aggregate cost would be realized 
to the city in seven years, in substantial enhancement 
of values, in increase of business, and the erection of a 
better class of buildings. 

Compared with this improvement, the extension of 
Park Street, and the widening at. Crafts' Corner, al- 
though in themselves important and to be approved, 
sink into utter insignificance. They have their 
advantages; but the benefit is circumscribed to a com- 
paratively small locality. This avenue, however, is for 



THE NEW STREET TO THE MONUMENT. 



95 



the benefit of the whole city. Lying wholly in Ward 
One, it is vastly for the benefit of Wards Two and 
Three. It will greatly promote the convenience of 
those who travel in vehicles, or who labor with loaded 
teams ; while all citizens and travellers will have the 
advantage of a better access and a commanding view. 
The whole city, indeed, will be crowned with an orna- 
ment unsurpassed, whose matchless beauty may be 
seen as it cannot be now from any street or public 
place within the city limits. 



